Reforged
by Vigilantia
Summary: Her wish had been simple, fix her mistakes and stop all the bloodshed she had caused. With the sacrifice of seven Servants, the Greater Grail pierced straight to Akasha and granted her wish. Now stranded ten years before the Fifth Holy Grail War, Saber must adapt to modern society and survive. Original Character (OC) heavy.
1. Prologue

**_- Reforged: The Twin Blade -_**  
><strong><em>- Prologue -<em>**

_**- Fuyuki Burns -**_  
><em><strong>Shinto, Fuyuki City Hall<strong>_

Unnatural winds tore past the stone and marble ruins of Fuyuki's former city hall, though the disturbance went unnoticed against the backdrop of burning fires and smoking ruins of former homes and apartments. Ashen wooden frames and concrete blocks and pillars crumbled to the ground as the wind wrapped around itself, forming a small cyclone that blossomed into a whirling tornado. In this one moment, the laws of physics were bent and time itself shifted as a greater force exerted its power. Solid matter appeared where there was only air before as a portal tore through reality itself. Azure light bathed the area as particles blue-shifted within the air, before a humanoid shape was thrown through the portal, closing the anomaly behind it. The sound of metal clattered behind the figure before the portal finally sealed shut.

The small figure lay still for an unknown amount of time before finally stirring. The air was sickly warm and she coughed. There was the cool feel of wet stone against her cheek and she opened her eyes; blinking to see past the haze in her eyes. Pushing off the wet stone floor, the girl rose to one knee before her strength failed her and she slid and slammed onto the floor. The blonde girl lay there motionless, her green eyes looking at the open roof above her. Above her, she saw the blackness of the night sky tinged orange and the flicker of firelight that glowed and dimmed outside.

She tried to remember what had happened. How had she gotten here? What... She had to know... Had it worked?

The girl pushed herself to her feet, muscles aching in protest, and looked at her surroundings. The building she was in a shadow of its former self, with only the remnants of charred wooden frames and soot stained stone walls. All around her were the remains of hundreds of seats. At the front for what she took as the center stage was a massive gaping hole that descended into darkness. Behind her were numerous steps that led to the only significant source of illumination in the massive auditorium. Bright orange streamed in from an empty double doorway, blinding her as she looked upwards.

"Had this place been a theater or auditorium?" she thought to herself. The place had a sense of familiarity that tingled in the back of her mind.

Slowly, ever slowly, with each step sending aching pain through her weary limbs, the girl made her way up the steps before collapsing to her knees; her breath ragged from exhaustion and perspiration dripping from her brow.

The air around her was sweltering hot, as if she were being held above a massive fire. The black clothing that clung to her body was soaked with sweat and clung to her like a second skin. It was too hot. She struggled with the tight knots that bound the black dress tightly around her abdomen and stifled her breathing. It felt a vise had closed around her chest. She fumbled with the clasps and knots on her corset before pausing, sweat streaming from her face. With a tired curse, she grabbed a shard of glass on the floor and simply cut the knots and cloth away.

Tugging at her shredded clothes, she shed the heavy dress from her form, letting it fall from her shoulders. It felt... liberating. The girl sighed in relief as she felt the air against her skin like a burst of wind on a hot day. She rested there, trying to regain her strength.

A glimmer of crimson caught her eye and only now did she notice the heavy gem around her neck. She looked at the heavy stone, a beautiful ruby that fit comfortably in the palm of her hand laced with to a silver chain. It was a beautiful jewel, but it wasn't hers.

After a painfully long climb, she finally reached the edges of the doorway. She squinted her eyes, her vision blinded momentarily by the change in brightness, before looking around the hallway she was in. Broken glass littered the carpeted floor of the wooden hall. She looked outward through the remains of the hall's window panes and into the city beyond.

Orange fire burned in the distance, sending up plumes of smoke high into the air. Hellfire burned the city around her, the blaze consuming everything it touched with no sign of stopping. In the distance, she could see the lights of emergency crews trying to help the wounded and stem the inferno's reach. The fire burned with the ferocity of a rabid wolf, spreading to other buildings and trees.

Exhausted, Arturia Pendragon fell to her knees and collapsed against the hallway wall. Her muscles ached from the simple task of climbing the set of stairs and she couldn't even muster the strength to stand. Her eyes droop as the warm heat wrapped her tired body in a warm embrace and she simply lay there; content to watch as Fuyuki burned.

There was a crack and then a roar, before Arturia felt the floor disappear under her feet. Her stomach seemed to twist in her chest before she collapsed onto solid ground once more, slamming her head against the hard floor. Her head was spinning… or was it the world that was tumbling around her?

Chilling water washed over her, drenching the heat of her body. She looked back in time to see an avalanche of rubble following behind her and then darkness.

* * *

><p>Author's Notes: So where do I plan on taking this?<p>

Things will be slightly slow from the start as I'll have to setup the background and Saber's situation, but I'm planning on this heading towards a paranormal police procedural that'll investigate the non-Grail War side of the Nasuverse. The Church, MA, other organizations, other locations and other Nasuverse monsters that bump in the night; the lesser explored side of the universe. All the while, Saber will learn what she could have been if she'd taken a few more magic lessons from Merlin.


	2. Chapter 1

_**- Reforged: The Twin Blade -**_  
><em><strong>- Chapter 1 -<strong>_

**_- Modern Heroine -_**

Flames engulfed the simple two-story home on the other side of the river and collapsed the simple wood frame to the ground. Across the river, people lined up and watched the firefighters battle the raging inferno. It was an odd phenomenon, for so many people to watch the city go up in flames. Perhaps it was the change from the monotony of their lives, or perhaps it was due to the thrill and excitement that kept them staring at the inferno.

That suited Nathan just fine. It simply meant there'd be less people to notice the home break-in. Parking his car by the side of the street, he headed towards the Agency's safe house. Flashes of red passed by at the end of the road, police and paramedics heading towards the fire. The perimeter of the blaze were less than a kilometre away, but he knew a slight shift in the wind could have him surrounded by a wall of fire. The odd thing was that the blaze wasn't his biggest concern.

There had been over a dozen Shin'i agents in Fuyuki when the war started. The mission had been simple, stay out of sight and observe the war. With such a powerful artifact available, the Shin'i Agency had to know what was happening and who might win the war. A simple reconnaissance mission in theory. Unfortunately, it had been anything but simple. Several days before the end of the war, they had lost contact with all the agents in the city. Their last transmission to Shin'i had been... grim.

Nathan approached the building and looked at the charred and blackened remains of a house, the result of a recent fire. Luckily, it looked as if the firefighters had gotten there in time to save some of the structure. He gently thumbed the sidearm under his midnight black suit, as if to reassure himself it was still there; a nervous tic he'd been trying to avoid.

Taking off his sunglasses, Nathan walked under the yellow tape that surrounded the husk of a building and made his way through the remains of the doorway. Adjusting to the shadowy interior, he saw crimson painted along the walls of the room and dark burgundy stains on sections of the carpeted floor. He recognized the familiar signs of bullet holes through the walls and brass shell casings on the floor. There must have been bodies here before, but the authorities had probably sent them to the coroners already. From that amount of blood splatter, he knew the agents here were already dead. The floors of the building were still soaking wet from the hoses used to put out the fire, placing the event here within the last two days, about the same time they had lost communication with their team here.

Quickly searching through the house, Nathan picked up a silver suitcase and the team's waterlogged laptops before heading back to his car. The winds outside were changing and he didn't want to press his luck. Down the street, he watched as more fire trucks made their way towards the fire and Nathan raised an eyebrow at one of the truck emblems. The battle must have been growing desperate. The last three trucks had come from over three districts away.

This was his last stop. Three safe houses and only eight agents "accounted" for. Nathan supposed the remaining agents might have been alive, perhaps hiding in an obscure location somewhere. However, the fact that none of them had reported in over the last several days made that unlikely. The fact Command had only sent two agents to Fuyuki to discover what had happened also told Nathan what they thought about the survival chances. He didn't blame them, however. Shin'i was a small counter-paranormal organisation. Losing even a single agent was a blow to the organisation. Losing over a dozen agents was a massacre.

The big mystery, and his mission here, was to find out just how a simple reconnaissance mission had turned into a bloodbath. Placing the contents of his search into the trunk, Nathan looked at the plethora of folders, files, hard drives and photos stored in the back. He sighed. It was going to be a pain to pick up the bread crumbs the other agents had left behind. Slamming the trunk down, he got into the unassuming black Corolla.

A loud beep issued from his pockets and he fished through his pockets for the magic "ticker." About as compact as a large compass and containing a similar look, it was a fusion between magi magecraft and modern technology.

In theory, the device would help locate major magecraft events in a nearby location. In practice, it was only useful at long ranges. Anything more powerful than a simple novice spell within a hundred meters would cause the device to go crazy and spin the arrow like a fan. He'd have to remember to hound the Magi Division and R&D to fix the damned thing.

Nathan looked at the device. Whatever was drawing its attention, it was definitely far into the distance. Something that could be detected that far away would have immense magical properties, most likely something related with the Grail War. Bringing out a map, he placed the device on his position and drew a line from where he was to where the arrow was pointing. The only location it lined up with was Ryuudou Temple. The site where all of Fuyuki's leylines met together.

Turning on the car, he shifted the vehicle into drive before turning off onto the main road.

Finishing his status update to Shin'i, Nathan pocketed his cellphone and drew his sidearm. The air here was oddly stifling despite the winter weather, most likely due to the flames that engulfed the city behind him. At least he hoped that was the reason. He recalled Agent Linden had said something to him before about how complex spells could release enough mana for even regular humans to sense.

Following the ticker's arrow, he went off the temple's stone steps and headed deeper into the forest that surrounded Ryuudou Temple. It might have been his imagination, but he swore the air was getting more humid, like heading closer into the maw of some massive unseen beast.

With only the rhythmic noise of the device to keep him company, he continued to wade through the thick forest foliage one step at a time, each step causing him to sink almost an inch into the soft forest floor. Passing by a gigantic boulder that lay next to the path, he looked down at the device once more. The distance indicator was broken, rapidly cycling between random numbers, however, the arrow he was following maintained its direction. Well, at least that was a nice change. The thing wasn't completely broken for once.

"Why couldn't it just be smoking hot Magi girls for once?" Nathan thought to himself, "Oh, that's right, because they're normally Dead Apostles looking to carve my heart out."

With his sidearm in one hand and the ticker in the other, he swept the device back and forth to sweep the area. Just for once, he'd appreciate finding something that wasn't inherently evil or intent on killing him.

Moving past the treeline, Nathan found himself atop a cliff side that gave a haunting view of the burning city below. The smoking rising from the ashes clogged the sky and blurred the evening sun on the horizon. Against a nearby pine tree, clad only in her black underwear, slept a petite blonde girl. Head lolled against her shoulder, the girl's locks of hair strewn against her peaceful sleeping face.

"Huh..." said Nathan at a loss for words.

Consciousness slowly returned to Arturia. The first thing she noticed were the soft bedsheets that lay against her back, telling her she had somehow moved from her spot against the tree. She shot up from the bed... and immediately regretted it. Her body ached in protest at the sudden motion and she collapsed back onto the white sheets. It felt as if every muscle in her body had been sapped of all its strength.

Arturia examined her surroundings. Whoever had taken her here had been considerate enough to provide her with a simple white t-shirt and a pair of shorts, although the shirt was several sizes too large. It was almost comical how the end of it nearly reached her knees. The room itself was rather spartan, with simple white walls and only a bed, dresser and nightstand to adorn the room. Looking out the window, she could tell night had fallen outside. With no small effort, she pushed herself to her feet, wobbling slightly as she stood up.

She felt... odd. Her body tingled, as if fully charged with electricity, and although she felt tired to the bone she also felt brimming with energy. It was a strange feeling she couldn't quite place.

Her legs ached in protest but she continued onward, opening the door and heading into what looked like the kitchen and living room area. The room was bathed in a warm glow coming from the deck outside. She turned and looked out the sliding glass doors and watched as Fuyuki fire burned in the distance.

Against the wall and on the kitchen table were numerous files, newspaper articles, documents and photos. Strings led from one picture to another, forming groups and patterns to organise the plethora of information. Many were waterlogged and damaged, revealing only blurred snapshots of battles. Although grainy and out of focus, she recognized the people in the photos. How could she not? She had been in them, although it seemed as if that had been another lifetime. In one set, she recognized the battle on the Fuyuki docks that had ended with her arm bleeding from Lancer's curse. In another photo she saw the smoke and vague silhouettes that had been Caster's corrupted abomination before she had destroyed it with Excalibur. Another set showed images of shining dots and flashes in the night sky; Lancer and Archer's fight above the clouds.

So enthralled Arturia was she with her memories of the Fourth Grail War that she missed the firm footsteps that came up from behind her.

"Hey," came a voice behind her.

Adrenaline shot through her veins and reflexes took over her body. By pure instinct, she whirled around into a combat stance, her right arm prepared to throw a defensive jab while her left prepared to deflect any attack.

Arturia yelled, hoping to surprise her attacker, before burning bright light filled her view and she was forced to shut her eyes against the flash of light. Taking a step back, she stumbled and fell to the wooden floor. Once again, her body tingled and her right arm tensed, as if struck by electricity, while cold chills flew up and down her body. When it was over, she cracked open her eyes and they shot wide open in surprise at the sight before her.

Blood was splattered against the pristine white apartment wall. The man from before lay wounded against the kitchen counter, blood pouring from the gaping wound in his abdomen, a smeared trial of blood leading from where he'd fallen. Against the far wall was a new hole that had burned all the way to the outside, the edges singed and flickering with fire. In the air she could smell ozone, smoke and fire.

"Did I do that?" she thought in disbelief.

Arturia looked at her right arm where she could still feel the heat radiating from the spell she had cast. It still tingled with energy. She looked down at herself, as if this was the first time she'd seen her own two hands. That was impossible... She had never... she couldn't have...

The sound of moans roused her from her stupor and she headed towards the man. Hurrying over, she noticed something metallic on the floor... a metal mug and stirring spoon dropped on the floor; warm orange tea pooling around it.

Arturia knelt next to him, his breathing low and shallow as he desperately tried to contain the blood pouring from his abdominal wound. Blood was rapidly soaking through his white shirt and pooling on the kitchen floor.

"I take it you're not a fan of Ceylon tea then?" he asked between gasps of air. He gave a soft smile towards her before exhaling in pain.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to... I don't know how... I..." she said.

"It's okay..." he said, silencing her words. "Just forget about it and focus."

She looked at the man's wound and knew it was a mortal wound. The gaping hole in his abdomen was easily the size of her own fist and blood was seeping through his hands like a sieve. Already, she could see his skin going pale from the blood loss.

"Looks like... Main artery... been severed," said the man. "I estimate I have a minute before I go into shock and then cardiac arrest... give or take a minute." Even now, his breath was already short and sporadic.

"Is.. is there anything I can do?" she said. She was reminded of the end of battles in Britain, watching her soldiers die from their wounds while she stood by watching in vain; watching as the light slowly left their eyes. Arturia looked into his brown eyes and he closed them with a sigh.

He sighed and his posture slouched at her words. "A little too late for that, although, if I'm going to go it'd be nice to know your name at least," he said.

"Saber," Arturia muttered. She didn't know why she'd said it. Maybe it was just from habit, or because it had essentially become a second name for her, but it was the first thing that had come to her mind.

"Sable... huh? That's a... good name..." the man said before closing his eyes in pain. Arturia opened her mouth to correct him, but stopped. There was no point.

"What's your name?" she asked in return.

"Nathan... Nathan McNab" he said, that weak smile showing up once more. He lay his head back against the counter, forcing himself to keep breathing. "I guess this wasn't the best of days for either of us, huh?"

Arturia sighed and closed her eyes. She wasn't a magus. The most she had learned from Merlin was the Invisible Air enchantment. All of it had seemed inconsequential all those years ago but right now she cursed herself for ignoring his lessons. There might have been something in his preaching lectures that she could have used.

Everything she'd done since she'd taken up the sword had brought destruction. The end of her kingdom. The death of her own son. Whole cities reduced to mere rubble with thousands of people dead underneath. And most recently... Shirou... Rin... Sakura...

She'd been a sharpened blade her entire life; strong, direct, focused.

But... swords could only destroy. They couldn't create life or heal a wound.

Arturia placed her hands over McNab's and gripped them. Concentrating, she pressed down on his arms, his warm blood coating her hands. "Stay with me, Nathanial. Let me fix this." she said.

"Let me fix all of this," she said, barely above a whisper.

Light enveloped the small apartment for several seconds, before fading back to darkness.

* * *

><p><em><strong>- Memories of Future Past -<strong>_

The soft drip of water upon Saber's deathly white face slowly roused the Servant from the darkness. Opening her olive green eyes, she saw the roof of the cavern that housed the Greater Grail. Another drop of water splattered on her face and she blinked. Slowly, she rose to her feet, using her corrupted sword as support. Angry tendrils of crimson flared along her blackened armor as she stood. She looked down at her damaged chest plate where Shirou's twin swords had sliced through her armour and disemboweled her. The flesh underneath had been healed, the results of her Servant status and a near infinite pool of mana from Sakura. The only sign of damage from the previous fight was from her armor where the Shirou's twin swords had cut through the metal plating.

She looked down at the figure on the ground before her. Even in death, Shirou's eyes still stared towards her, as if judging her for her sins. He had given everything to buy Rin several more minutes to confront Sakura. Deep down somewhere beneath the shackles of rage and corruption, she felt a pang of regret over the death of her former Master. She'd failed him. She'd failed everyone.

Kneeling down, she gently closed his eyes. Had she been able to shed tears, they would have dripped upon Shirou's now crimson stained shirt. As it was, even that simple ability had been sealed from her. Shutting her own eyes in remorse, she sighed, before rising once more.

She slowly made her way towards the plateau that housed the Greater Grail. Blackened sludge poured down the stone steps and began to pool and spread along the cavern floor. Being made of only mana, the black mud was neither hot nor cold; it was simple there. Still... she shivered as she stepped through the filth and ascended the stairs. She may have been consumed by it, but somewhere deep down inside her, Saber still detested its feel; the parts of her that the darkest of the corruption couldn't touch.

Reaching the top of the stairs, she finally saw the Greater Grail. Even from this distance she felt revulsion from the artifact. The Grail stood like a towering monolith in the center of the cavern. White spheres that looked like eyes peered from its depths, rolling and twisting as if the thing could actually see her, while tendrils of the Grail's corruption writhed and wriggled in the dark container like a nightmare-twisted squid.

Sakura was nowhere to be found, nor Rin. Saber mentally called to her current Master, but received no response.

Could it be possible? She called out, her voice echoing up and down the cavern, but received no reply. Forcing herself to concentrate past her anger, she tried to sense the mana connection to her Master, only to discover a void.

A sense of pride welled within her chest, one that drowned even the tendrils of hate for a moment, although it was tempered with sorrow. Rin had actually done it. She had stopped Sakura, likely at the cost of her own life.

It was, however, a victory paid in full. Shirou was gone. Rin and Sakura were gone. Ilya and Shinji were dead. Thousands of lives in Fuyuki claimed by the shadow over the last few hours. The only one left in the war now was herself. The last person standing.

Something glimmered on the floor and Saber kneeled down to examine it; Rin's jewel pendant. It was a useless thing, now devoid of its mana. She reached for the pendant and then stopped. The cold and calculated part of her mind, controlled by the corruption, rebelled against her sentimental urges. It was a useless bauble that would only distract her in combat. Her armored hand stopped.

And yet... she still wanted to keep it.

Warring factions within her mind collided, until finally one side relented in frustration. Grabbing the pendant, Saber pocketed it.

Turning, she looked back at the Grail. A lifetime ago, this might have been the victory she had seeking but now it was but a bitter tasting defeat. Everyone she cared for was dead, everyone she knew. Her wish was right before her and yet she realized she didn't care. It had taken her over three wars to finally understand that she finally didn't care anymore. She could make her original wish, but then Shirou would still be dead, Rin would still be dead, Taiga would still be missing and Sakura would be gone.

Thinking back to her old kingdom, she realized that despite everything that had happened, her greatest grief and regrets lay here. Her duty to her Master and this time lay unfinished.

Saber walked until she was close enough that the Grail towered like a castle above her. She knelt on the ground, Excalibur beside her. Memories flooded her mind as she thought back on all her failures... all her sins. There were enough regrets there to fill two entire lifetimes, and yet... there was still one last glimmer of hope for her. One last chance even if it did cost her everything to take it.

Taking Excalibur with both hands, she thrust the blade through her chest. Crimson blossomed from her chest and dripped out in rivulets from her back. Pain erupted from her chest, emptying her lungs of air and nearly causing her to black out. She coughed, and tasted the familiar taste of copper on her lips. From pure concentration and willpower, she forced herself to stay conscious. There wasn't much time left and there was still one last thing to do.

With the last of her strength, she thrust her gauntlet directly into the Grail.

"Let this be the end of this cycle of misery and despair. Let me right all the wrong that I've done. Let me save them... Let me fix this. All of this," she whispered.

The ground around Saber trembled and then shook as if she were inside an erupting volcano. Cracks formed in the Greater Grail's shell and, staring into them, she saw brilliant white light that enveloped her view. Slowly, she could feel the life finally drained from her wound before she closed her olive green eyes and collapsed to the floor.

* * *

><p><strong><em>- Earth and Humanity -<em>**

_"Intriguing, one of the rituals finally succeeded" the female figure said. She watched as the small ball of light travelled through the fog towards her. Twirling the wisp of light around her fingers, she levitated it above her hand and observed the life within. "It's curious, had the original clans worked together each of them would have come here in time."_

_She observed the wisp. It was so small and fragile yet filled with potential. She scrunched her brow in thought before examining the light closer._  
><em>"Intriguing. So... she has to be the one to fix it? Hmm... Too many variables, high chance for failure... It's unlikely she'll ever succeed... unless... <em>

_Cupping the light between her hands, she pulled at the wisp until two identical balls of light floated between her hands. She smiled. Lifting the new ball of light closer to her crimson eyes, she whispered several incarnations under her breath, causing the wisp hue to shift a light azure. With a simple push, she sent the wisps back towards the direction they'd came._

_"I noticed you put your own unique touch on the new one," said a second figure from the darkness. "How... human of you."_

_"It abides by her request in spirit and to the letter," she replied nonchalantly, "I fail to see how that makes me anymore human than yourself." _

_The second figure returned a smirk at her quip. Returning her attention to her work. she watched as the wisps disappeared into the distance._


	3. Chapter 2

**_- Reforged: The Twin Blade -_**  
><strong><em>- Chapter 2 -<em>**

**_- Past Now Present -_**

_Blood. _

It was everywhere, its metallic tinge permeating the air and soaking the soil beneath Arturia's feet. All around her the bodies of her people and her enemies lay around her upon the hill; their bodies intermingling in death. The fighting had been close and brutal, with what felt like hundreds falling to her blade alone. Her men had stood with her at the beginning, until one by one they had fallen. In the end she had been the only one left standing; surrounded against countless foes. Even against these odds, her skills had let her persevere in the end.

Arturia leaned upon her sword, her blood leaking from the wound in her chest and dripping down her once pristine armour and soaking her clothes. Her eyes looked towards the sinking sun on the horizon and she sighed. Despite all her strength and power, all she had managed to do was destroy her country and people she had sworn to protect. Everything she had done, everything she had tried… had not been enough.

Every muscle in her body burned, a result of the constant, intense fighting. Her eyelids felt heavy and she let her blade take the strain of holding her body. Perhaps she would rest, just for a moment…

_Blood. She could smell its heavy metal scent on the air._

Arturia's eyes shot open and she pushed herself off the ground, her heartbeat raced as she struggled to gain her bearings. Memories rushed back into her mind as she recalled what had happened. Looking around the room, she found Nathaniel unmoving beside her with his head was slumped forward and dark crimson soaking his white dress shirt. With a burst of adrenaline, she crawled over to check on him.

He was still alive. However, even if he was breathing now, she knew he could easily succumb to blood loss or disease. She had watched too many of the soldiers under her command win a battle only to still perish afterwards.

She measured his pulse and checked his forehead with the back of her hand. Surprisingly, Arturia found his pulse level and temperature normal; unusual given the wound he had taken. Moving down, she clumsily fumbled with his shirt's buttons before taking a look at the wound. The flesh around him stomach was still flush red and hot to the touch, but compared to the gaping wound from before, it seemed healed. Removing his shirt, she looked at his back to find it in a similar condition. For a man on the edge of death before, she would say he was in amazing shape. Which led her thoughts to...

_Had she done that? How was it even possible? She had never been much of a caster in life so how had she healed..._

Arturia shook her head and dashed the thoughts from her head. She could figure all this out later. Gripping him under his arms, she pulled with all her strength and aching pain erupted along her arms. With a squeak of surprise, she slipped and she fell to the ground; muttering words unfit for a lady of her stature.

It was at this time she finally recalled just how sore her body felt. She pushed herself off the floor and closed her eyes, trying to summon the prana needed to strengthen her body and muscles.

_Nothing..._

She tried again, willing her prana to flow.

_Still nothing…_

Arturia opened her eyes in worry. That should have worked.

She tried once more, putting even more effort into this attempt. Her face scrunched in concentration and her face tinted red as she tried to draw out prana from her magic core but it was as if there was nothing there. Releasing a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, she collapsed to the ground in fatigue. She took several long breaths trying to steady her breath and composure.

First, her magic core had been out of control and had almost killed someone; now it wouldn't work. She exhaled in frustration.

If she was going to move him, it appeared she would have to do it without the aid of her magic. Grabbing him under the arms again, she began to pulled with all her strength and gradually dragged him towards the couch. Inch by inch, she carefully maneuvered Nathaniel's body to the couch and lay him against the cushions. For the first time in a long while, she cursed her small stature.

She wiped the sweat from her brow before turning to the pool of blood on the floor. It wouldn't do to simply leave it laying on the floor, especially since there was no one else around to clean it. Searching and grabbing some cleaning supplies from a hall closet, she mopped away the mess into a yellow cleaning bucket before heading to the nearby bathroom.

Opening the door, she paused and looked inside the cramped bathroom. Compared to Shirou's home, the bathroom small and cramped. A small shower stall took up almost half the space with a vanity recessed into the wall across from it. She supposed it made sense, going by Nathaniel's last name… McNab, it would be logical he'd seek out a house with a familiar western design.

On the counter was a pile of clothes with a note on top.

_Wasn't sure your size, so I took the liberty of relieving some of my colleague's clothes for you, under the assumption you didn't want to be wearing oversized clothes all day. I do hope they fit you._

_- McNab_

Nathaniel must have placed them here earlier in the day. How… thoughtful.

Emptying the contents of the bucket into the toilet, she glanced outside and watched Nathaniel sleeping soundly on the couch before deciding to silently close the door. She supposed a quick shower wouldn't hurt…

Arturia glanced back at the messy girl in the mirror, her clothes stained red with blood and her hair a dirty, disheveled mess. Blood stained her once golden hair and dirt tarnished her pale skin. The girl looked back at Arturia, her expression tired and haggard from the countless battles and wars. However, the greatest change was the look in her eyes, one that had lost its determination and certainty.

Arturia sighed, moving away a stray strand of hair before leaning into the mirror towards the other girl. In some ways, she missed the simplicity she had held on the throne. Her will had been resolute and the path had been clear; there had been nothing more important than the integrity of her country, the sanctity of her honour and the life of her people. Nothing mattering more than that and nothing existing beyond that simple truth.

The tired and scared girl that looked back at her told Arturia she had been wrong.

Removing her pants, she stepped into the shower and closed the glass shower door behind her before turned on the water. She rested her head against the shower tiles and let the heat of the water wash over her and soothe her sore muscles. Her thoughts turned to her old mentor, Merlin. He had once said she could have made a powerful caster if only she'd had the patience to learn more about her magic. Right now, she deeply regretting not taking him up on his offer. With everything going on, it was clear she couldn't rely upon her prana burst or any of her magic ability.

Arturia sighed, wishing she still could ask her old friend for help. At times like this, she felt useless. Turning off the shower, she waited; watching the water drip from her long blonde hair. Eventually, she eventually opened the stall door and grabbed a nearby towel to dry herself.

Wiping the foggy glass with her hand, she looked at the girl in the mirror again.

Better this time, but she still looked weary… and that cursed stray strand of hair was back again. Her brow furled as Arturia patted her hair to mat it down, only for the stray hair to pop up again as if taunting her. Giving up at the futility, she finished drying her hair and got dressed.

Still patting her wet hair down with a towel, Arturia left the bathroom; still tired yet refreshed for the moment. Outside through the glass patio doors, light from the fire still raged and lit up the horizon rays of sunlight. Nathaniel was still sleeping soundly on the couch when she finished drying her hair and placed the towel on the kitchen counter. Her stomach growled in hunger and she pulled open the refrigerator door. It was mostly bare, filled with mostly take-out trays and a single unopened pack of beer. However, on the top shelf sat at least a foot-long sub sandwich, filled to the brim with ham, chicken, turkey and what looked like corned beef along with fresh tomatoes and other assorted greens and filled with… possibly mustard? Almost salivating in hunger, her hand reached out before stopping mere inches from the delicious and perfect meal.

"I almost killed him and now I'm going to raid his food stores?" she thought to herself.

Despite the protests from her stomach and with no small amount of will, she pulled her hand back; suppressing a disappointed groan. She stared yearningly at the refrigerator for long moments before eventually deciding on a simple mug of tea to tide her hunger over. The only thing she could find were some western teabags on the counter, a far cry from what Shirou used, but they would have to do. Filling a kettle with water, she turned on the stove element and sat against the kitchen counter, waiting.

That lasted for a mere moment before she looked around the room for something to do. Boredom turned her attention to the numerous boards that took up a large portion of the room, the ones she had been looking at before. Each board detailed different battles and sections of the war with a table in the middle filled with loose notes and stacked folders. Numerous mugs, half filled with tea or coffee, were also clustered together on the table next to a shut laptop.

All the boards and folders reminded her of one of the crime drama shows Taiga enjoyed watching, the show's detectives staring intently at the slew of information while looking for the week's killer.

Arturia stopped at the folder labeled "Saber." Opening the yellow folder, she picked up and read the memo on top:

_Due to the limited support from the MA combined with the general reclusiveness of the von Einzbern family, we have failed to accumulate any substantial concrete information regarding Servant Saber or Saber's master. It is only through the process of elimination that we're able link the von Einzbern family and the Servant Saber._

_Our initial surveillance has told us the master is highly likely a female Einzbern homunculi with albinism traits. Curiously, the subject has an affinity for shopping, which allowed our field agents to observe her during the day. Following her was a male companion (blonde hair, European descent), which Agents Adachi and Jin theorized could have been either her Servant or perhaps a hired bodyguard._

_As mentioned in my preliminary report, Agent Ikeda was killed in the line of duty while observing the battle in the dockyard, resulting in a void of information during that first critical battle. However, the fact his death was the result of conventional arms (9mm round from short range through the skull), it is possible one of the Masters (especially one from one of the main families) could have hired contractors to fight in the war or aid in deception. It is with this in mind why I am hesitant to confirm nor deny her blonde companion is the Servant Saber._

_Due to the proximity of Saber's dossier when our safehouse was breached and the subsequent water damage from firefighting efforts, most of our primary source documentation on Saber was lost. As such, much of the detail and information in the subsequent documents are extrapolation and conjecture from the remains of our original files._

_Sincerely,_

_Agent Nathan McNab_

Arturia sifted through some of the other files and folders… Flight records and transcripts from the two F-15s lost in the war… satellite imagery of Fuyuki before and after the fire… missing person reports from Fuyuki's police department… It was clear Nathaniel worked for people much larger than just himself.

She was starting to like this situation less and less. Ignoring the fact they had been surveilling the war, if they discovered her identity as a Servant there was no telling how many problems that would bring up. She recalled what Irisviel and Rin had said about the Magic Association. Their people were utterly fanatical in their devotion to reach the Root. Family, friends, even their own lives were forfeit to reach that end goal. Could she even trust him? The thought of being bound to a cold steel table while Magi examined her body haunted her thoughts and sent chills up her back.

Adrenaline shot through Arturia's veins at the sound of a key clicking in the door. The handle turned once... twice… followed by thumping on the door. Another moment passed before runes appeared on the door as someone tried to break through. Unarmed and without her powers, Arturia's instincts told her to retreat.

Immediately, she began evaluating scenarios in her head. There was nowhere to hide in the open room. The washroom was the closest room, but there was no escape route from there; she'd be trapped. She could hide in the bedroom, but that was past the main door and she couldn't be sure she'd be out of sight in time. Wait… the patio!

Hurriedly pushing open the glass door, she pressed her back against the outside wall, carefully peeking inside the house.

"I'm hooooooomee!" called a feminine voice. "Really, Natey. You tell me to answer my cellphone and ye… Nate!?" The stranger's voice, almost sing-song in tone, switched to a sudden serious tone. Arturia heard the stranger's footsteps, moving with haste and yet with measured and careful steps. A shadow appeared from the hall and she hugged her back against the wall, listening to the woman walking over towards Nathaniel.

"Damn it, Nate. What'd you get yourself into now?" heard Arturia. She waited a heartbeat, before risking a look inside.

The stranger knelt over Nathaniel, checking over his pulse. The woman... no... girl was dainty in stature and young, perhaps only several years older than herself, with dark red hair was cut short stopping at her chin. Wearing a simple green jacket, the stranger placed her hand against Nathaniel's forehead while gripping a pistol in the other. Underneath her long jacket poked the end of a sword's sheath, slightly curved and thinner than the blades of her time. Given the girl's reaction, she seemed less like an intruder and more like an old friend.

Arturia shifted forward to get a better look, causing the wooden floor underneath her to creak.

"Who's there?" yelled the stranger, anger tinting her voice. Head turning at the noise, she raised the sidearm towards Arturia and rapidly advanced upon her position. In her other hand, light blue runes formed in her hand signaling a spell.

A cold chill ran up Arturia's spine. Her instincts had saved her from certain death in her past battles, and at the moment her combat instincts were telling her to run.

Ducking back behind the wall, she leapt over the second floor patio railing before landing and rolling on the grass below; the soft grass compressing between her toes. Arturia got back to her feet before sprinting away from the house. She took a quick glance behind her before taking a left and heading down a sidestreet and into the distance.

Arturia walked silently along the empty Fuyuki streets as she headed northward; the winter air chilly against her skin. Although the sky above her was dark, the horizon was still bathed in light from the light of fires in the distance. Her eyes lingered on the firefighters, battling the inferno across the river for a moment before she continued walking. Although barely into the evening, there was hardly any activity on the street, only the occasional vehicle that quickly drove out of sight. Similarly, most of the homes she had past by were dark and empty, devoid of life. The city was in a coma.

Arturia followed the river Mion to her right like a landmark, simply content to follow the road and let the streetlights illuminate her way forward. Taking a deep breath of air, she detected the faint smell of soot that seemed to tinge the air with a bitter aftertaste, like some of Merlin's herbal remedies. Occasionally, she glanced backwards looking and failing to see any signs of pursuit from the girl.

Now walking barefoot on the city's streets without a goal, nagging thoughts began to crop up in her mind again despite her efforts to push them away... about the day's events, about the past Grail Wars, about her magic abilities… but her most worrying thought was simply what to do next.

She hated to admit it, but she was lost. Where exactly would she go? She had no friends here. No place for refuge. Nowhere to run to. When she'd made her wish, she had wanted to help fix her own mistakes, but not like this. This was not what she wanted or asked for. Perhaps the Grail had simply malfunctioned and thrown her back to this time by mistake?

It didn't matter, at the moment she was completely alone in this timeline.

"No, that wasn't right. I do know one person in this time, " she corrected herself, "I could ask... him."

The question was whether he'd help her or shoot her on sight.

A lone figure walked the empty streets of Fuyuki with only the pale streetlights and faint glow of fire in the distance to guide him. He was dressed in the same dark clothes and coal-black trenchcoat that he'd worn from several days ago, their once pristine condition blackened with soot and burnt from fire. It was obvious from the dark shadows on his face and the ragged condition of his clothes that he'd been through a harrowing ordeal. The hospital had been on the other side of the river, kilometers away from his home but he didn't mind. After everything that had happened these last few days, the task of walking from central Fuyuki back home was refreshingly simple.

He remembered the doctor that had finally stopped to talk to him. It had been many long hours of agonizing wait and pacing as the hospital did its best to save the child. He saw the other people there, waiting, worrying, and crying; stuck in the same limbo as he was. Again and again he had seen the same situation occur as a tired doctor approach the family, sometimes unable to even able to finish his words, before the family broke down into tears. Sometimes it was a mother waiting for a son, or a husband waiting for a wife but most of the time it was the same answer.

And then... his time came. Fear turned his chest to pulp and gripped his heart so hard he could barely breathe… and yet this time it was different. The man had a small smile on his lips this time around. Maybe the man had been the same as himself, simply happy to see someone saved in all this destruction.

"Get some sleep," the doctor had said. "You should be able to see him tomorrow evening."

And so… he had left the hospital on the doctor's orders, one of the lucky few that left without tears of sorrow. Turning the corner, he headed for the house gate. In the distance, he thought he saw something that he knew was impossible. Walking closer, his eyes reconfirmed what the slight tingle in his magic circuits already told him.

He stood there, his mind still trying to process the person that sat peacefully against the wooden door. She shouldn't be here. In fact, she shouldn't even exist given what had happened, and yet here she was clad in a simple oversized white shirt and jeans; dozing off in the cold night sky. Perhaps it was the sound of his footsteps, or perhaps she had simply sensed his magic circuits but the small girl slowly opened her olive green eyes as he approached.

"Kiritsugu," she said, her voice still unsteady from sleep.

"Saber," replied Kiritsugu in surprise.

They sat at the table, two mugs of piping hot tea between both of them. He wore his dark evening robes while Saber had a warm blanket draped over her shoulders. The Saber that sat across the table from him seemed miles apart from the proud knight that he had known. For the last several minutes, she had simply stared deep at the cup into her own reflection.

Kiritsugu had listened to her as she'd told her story… how the Grail's mud had swallowed her whole after she had used Excalibur… and then how she had woken up, somehow still alive, saved by a stranger of unknown origins.

Looking at Saber now, it seemed impossible that she was still here sitting across from him and yet there she was alive and well before him.

The Saber that sat silently at the table was a far cry from the proud warrior he remembered from several days ago. Kiritsugu looked at the girl before him, her face seemed tired and her loose hair was ruffled as if she had rolled down a hill. At the moment, that girl who sat huddled with the thick blanket he'd given her seemed more like a scared lost child than the brave King of Knights; that once proud and confident Servant now a shadow of her former self. However, he himself had changed as well.

He remembered his time when he had been immersed inside the Grail, seeing Irisviel for one last time. He remembered her words as if he were still there and the haunting mirages he'd seen. The images of the hundreds dead by his hand, blood streaked against the ship's white walls and wooden floors. He knew it was an illusion, but it had been visceral enough for the nightmare to still haunt his thoughts.

He had given up many things on that day. His beautiful wife; her smile now only existing in his memories. A long-time friend and partner, her long journey finally complete. A lifelong dream now forever gone from his grasp. A daughter…

He halted his thoughts. Ilya was alive. He would find her and bring her back to Japan, just like Irisviel had said. Ilya was alive and he would return for her. No matter what might come from the Einzberns, he would find her again. That much, he promised himself.

Kiritsugu looked back towards Saber, who hadn't moved from the position she'd been in. Her eyes were still filled with the same haunted look as she stared down at her mug and the tea's reflection looked right back towards her.

What had she seen in the darkness of the Grail? What nightmares had she endured to bring such a proud Servant to this state?

He wasn't sure he wanted to know.

Kiritsugu called her name, rousing Saber from her thoughts. It must have been disorienting, given how little he had even acknowledged her presence during the war. "What will you do now?" he said.

Saber looked up towards him, contemplating her words. "If it would not inconvenience you, Kiritsugu, I would like to ask if I may stay here for the moment." The girl's cheeks bloomed crimson as she spoke, "I… do not have anywhere else I can go. You are the only person I have left here."

Hands clasped around the mug of tea, Kiritsugu noticed her fingers squirm nervously as she looked away from him to hide her embarrassment. Once a proud Servant, now she was forced to swallow her pride in order to simply find a place to live. Her behavior reminded him more than a little of Ilya, finally forced to apologize after he had caught her stealing a cookie from his plate.

"Very well, Saber," he said. His mouth couldn't help but curl in an amused smile. "I believe I may have a room or two free for you."

Something between a gurgle and a growl emanated from Saber's stomach and turned the former Servant's face bright red. For the first time since he'd met Saber, he smiled at her and laughed.

"I suppose I could also make you dinner, if you're hungry," he said warmly.

Saber clasped both of her hands together and nodded at him, her body unconsciously trying to shrink itself in embarrassment. "Thank you, Kiritsugu."

* * *

><p><em><strong>- Life -<strong>_

_Two weeks later..._

It had taken some time, but life for Arturia seemed to have returned to some semblance of normality. With the appearance of sudden rainfall, the fires across the river had eventually brought under control by the concerted efforts of Fuyuki's firefighters thereby allowing the city to slowly return to life as normal. Kiritsugu would leave for most of the day, traveling to Fuyuki General Hospital to look after Shirou while he recovered; not that Kiritsugu had ever told her the boy's name. She had taken extra care to hide her knowledge of the future war. There were many things she had to do before the Fifth War began, before she could right her wrongs and save the people she had lost.

However, she could deal with all of that in the future. For the moment, she was weak and vulnerable; easy prey against enemies. Arturia wasn't sure what exactly had happened when she returned, but it had left her without any of her weapons or any powers. As it was, she was even weaker than Shirou at the start of the Fifth War. She would have to keep her secrets until she was able regain her strength and act on that knowledge.

With Kiritsugu gone to look after Shirou, Arturia had been left to her own devices until his return in the evening. This had allowed her to regain her strength and practice her combat abilities. It had been at that time that she'd discovered how weak she had become. Physically, she felt fine. However, when she tried to use her magic abilities it was as if her body was rejecting the prana. Every time she tried summoning enough prana to strengthen her body, her limbs would lock and seize in burning pain. The first time she had tried testing it, she had been stuck in bed for an entire day; her body barely even able to move.

Even worse was the embarrassment when Kiritsugu had to feed her dinner in bed that day; bite by bite. She couldn't be sure, but her face certainly felt as it was bright red from the humiliation. At least, given the amused smile on his face, Kiritsugu had enjoyed dinner that night. It seemed almost alien to see her old Master smiling like that. It had been… comforting to see.

That, however, was her second major problem. If she was to live with Kiritsugu from now on, she couldn't simply live off his generosity. It grated against her sense of honor to beg, to feed off his kindness, but more importantly she knew she couldn't stay here because Shirou would be leaving the hospital soon. Arturia remembered the way Shirou had fondly talked about his time with Kiritsugu and Taiga as if they had been the best years of his life. She had no right to interfere with something like that.

If she was to survive in this time, she would do so by her own efforts; not by relying on someone's good will. Which was why she found herself washing dishes amongst the steam and heat of the Rainbow Butterfly's kitchen.

It wasn't the most glorious of positions, but Arturia didn't have much choice. Without any sort of certification or even ID, her venues for quick employment were limited. She supposed it was humbling, really, having to fallen literally from the position of king all the way down to that of a simple labourer.

Scalding hot water splashed against her face as she tried to clean a bowl and she grimaced. Grabbing a nearby tea towel, she wiped the water off her face before grasping the stainless-steel sink hose once more and began using it in smaller bursts. The small bowls the cafe used were annoyingly difficult to clean without the hot high-pressure water spraying back against the user.

"Sable. Remember the oven. Ten minutes," said Chef Matsu, poking his head from out of the corner before disappearing back to his side of the kitchen.

"Yes, Chef," Arturia replied tersely. Finishing up the remaining set of dishes, Arturia donned a pair of oven mitts before opening one of the cafe's ovens. She let the rush of hot air warm her face before enjoying the smell of fresh baked pastries. Placing the tray on the counter, she took another moment to waft the smell to her nose before closing the oven door. This had been the first time Matsu had allowed her to make and finish a recipe from scratch by herself and she took a moment to appreciate her work. Although full-on baking hadn't originally been part of her job, perhaps the young chef found the way Arturia's eyes watered in anticipation every time he pulled a meal from the oven endearing enough to offer to teach her the basics.

She had made sure to make two extras just for herself, with Matsu's permission of course. Taking one of the small ham and cheese croissants, she bit into it. The outside was delicately crunchy yet mixed perfectly with the soft interior of the pastry and the ham complemented the pastry quite nicely. The only issue was that she may have added too much cheese on the top. Arturia stood there, savoring and chewing on her delightful snack.

She reached for the second croissant only to find it missing. Arturia looked up and found Yui Hyoudo, the Butterfly's manager, across from her eating her treasured snack.

"Looks like you made extras," said Yui innocuously.

"That was miiiine… " Arturia thought sadly.

Yui stood there, absentmindedly finishing the rest of what was Arturia's croissant as if taunting her. Finishing off her food, Yui seemingly remembered the reason she'd come into the kitchen. The manager pulled off the employees schedules off from the nearby wall before say, "Artie-chan, I don't suppose you could help us up front for a bit?"

Arturia winced at her nickname. Despite Yui's many eccentricities, this had annoyed her the most. Every one of her attempts to derail Yui's attempts to 'rename' her had failed.

But it's too long. We can pronounce it faster this way. It sounds better this way.

It hadn't helped that several co-workers had agreed with Yui. As such, in the interest of not aggravating her new colleagues or manager, she begrudgingly accepted her new nickname.

"Hyoudo-san, I thought you said yesterday would be the last time this week..." began Arturia.

When she had taken this position at the Butterfly, Manager Yui had promised her she wouldn't need to help out with the other girls at the front of the store; only needing to help Chef Matsu prepare in the morning with baking or deal with other issues behind the counter. However, it seemed like she was being called out to go out to the front more and more often. It didn't help that her European appearance easily attracted attention, causing customers to ask for 'Artie-chan.'

"I know, I know," Yui said, nervously. "But Izumi just called in sick and we're really short staffed right now. I'm sure chef Takashi can take care of everything back here in the meantime."

Arturia gave a heavy sigh.

"Pleeeeeease?" Yui pleaded.

Despite the fact Yui was easily taller than herself, the manager had a way to seemingly shrink herself and flashed large puppy dog eyes towards her. Some leaders motivated their soldiers by their selfless actions and leadership. Others led with ruthlessness and hate, pushing their subordinates towards mutiny and abandonment. Yui could do neither. Anyone that worked with her knew Yui wasn't a leader, despite her best efforts, and the girl was too kind to yell at the girls working for her. As such, she resorted to using her carefree attitude and seemingly innocent demeanor to achieve her goals. Truly, Yui was a devious opponent to contend with.

Arturia sighed again, rubbing her head in frustration. "Very well," Arturia finally said.

"Thank you, Artie-chan!" cheered Yui. Arturia winced at the name again. Exiting into the store's change room, she had just hung up her apron and begun walking towards the front of the store when Yui stopped her.

"Don't forget the store uniform," said Yui as she pulled a spare uniform from the change room wall. "Here, I'll lend you a spare here."

Arturia's eye noticeably twitched as she stared at the offending articles of clothing offered to her. Black cloth mixed with lacy white frills that adorned the hem of the uniform and the accompanying headband accessory. She had to forcibly stopped herself from gagging at the thought of wearing it.

With no small amount of forced effort, she reached out to take the uniform.


	4. Chapter 3

**_- Reforged: The Twin Blade -_**  
><strong><em>- Chapter 3 -<em>**

**_- Talking over Taiyaki -  
><em>**  
>Arturia took a breath of winter's air, letting the biting cold air fill her lungs. It was chilly outside even with the warmth of the sun's rays on her face. However, compared with being cooped up blasting dishes with steaming water or being ogled by customers at the front of the store, the outside air was a refreshing change of pace.<p>

Due to the high amount of customers, she had been forced to skip her lunch in order to keep up with the orders. She couldn't prove it, but she had a hunch the rise in traffic wasn't simply due to Chef Matsu's curry rice special. Luckily, Yui had given her the rest of the day off when Chidori came in to relieve her. It was with a heavy sigh of relief that she had finally been able to remove the offending uniform.

It was still mid-afternoon when Arturia left from the back door of the cafe and headed west. She followed the path she normally took to get back home, her stomach rumbling along the way. She supposed she would simply have to persevere until she returned home. Yui had been kind enough to provide her employees with a discount at the cafe and normally she would take a quiet lunch in the cafe corner but with the amount of customers here, that was as likely as Taiga turning down Shirou's food.

Arturia gave off a sigh. Her steps entered a robotic routine as her thoughts reminisced about the past. As much as it pained her to admit it, she missed the school teacher's energetic, though juvenile, antics. She missed her fellow knights in Camelot, her old friend Merlin, Shirou, and Rin with her brash attitude which she used to cover her softer side. Although she'd have liked to think of herself invincible, the truth was...

_...she felt alone._

Even Kiritsugu was distant. To be sure, he was warmer than his former Fourth War self but for the last two weeks he had mostly kept to himself; always silent when she ate with him. At every other time, he isolated himself to his study or into the shed in the yard. He was always busy, either with tying up loose-ends with the war or repairing every visible or imagined problem in the old dilapidated house. Maybe she wasn't the only one trying to hide their troubles.

Arturia found the pavement stop in front of her and she looked up to find herself off the usual path home. Shaking her head, she mentally cursed herself before checking the pocketwatch Kiritsugu had given her. She was going to miss her bus.

A spike of anger rose from her chest but was overridden by the sudden pangs of hunger from her stomach. Arturia supposed she could take this opportunity to eat her missed lunch… she did have an extra thirty minutes now, after all. On the wind was the faint smell of fresh baked pastry mixed with… was that custard or…? Her stomach urged her forth.

She followed her nose to the source; a simple wooden shack situated on the edge of a small city park. The small store sold numerous grilled or fried snack foods, such as Takoyaki, dumplings or Yakitori, along with chips and hot drinks.

She walked up to the counter, replacing the young couple that just finished buying their food.

"What can I get you, little miss?" said the owner, scratching the white bandana wrapped around his head. The aging man gave her a warm smile as she looked around.

Arturia resented the name although she couldn't exactly blame him for assuming she was a small child. She supposed she could look at it like a blessing, to have retained her youth for so long. Although, she wasn't sure how long her patience would last, especially in this different age. She stared at the menu at the top with the myriad of different choices before her nose made the choice for her.

"I'll have one small Taiyaki please," said Arturia. Her words came out at a higher pitch than she meant, making her almost sound like a child. She felt the blood rush to her cheeks.

Reaching into her pocket, she took out the pouch containing most of her daily cash. There wasn't much there, with most of her pay stored at home for the future, but she could afford a small treat for today. Counting the coins, she placed the right amount on the counter.

"Here you go, miss. Today's been slow so I made it a size larger. I hope you enjoy it," he said kindly. He handed the snack to her in a brown paper bag.

"Ah, thank you," she replied. Arturia looked inside the bag at the massive looking pastry, and she felt her mouth water. She supposed there were some benefits to acting her physical age.

Arturia headed down the park's dirt path looking for a place to sit. Poking the head of the fish-shaped pastry out of the bag, she wafted the sweet smell of red beans to her nose before taking a bite. It was a welcoming warmth in the cold weather and although the sugary red bean filling was more muted than she expected, it was still tasty.

Truly, with all the changes in the modern age, the advances in cooking and baking were what Arturia loved best. The small kingdom of Camelot simply could not compare to the new foods, produce and spices delivered from across the world.

In the distance, Arturia spotted a nearby park bench with a beautiful view of the small park's scenery. Although the cherry blossoms weren't in bloom yet, she imagined the bench would give a beautiful view during spring when the trees were blossoming. There was another person sitting on the bench, her features wrapped up in a thick brown coat with the hood up against the park breeze as she munched on her meal.

Approaching closer Arturia asked the woman, " do you mind if I sit here?"

The woman turned to look at her, and Arturia froze.

She recognized the deep burgundy-red hair and lightly freckled cheeks from two weeks ago. The girl looked at her nonchalantly, while quietly munching on the taiyaki in her hand. Arturia stood there in silence, too nervous to break the stare. Should she run? Fight? She was too close to run away and in the open fields of the park she would have no cover while retreating.

The girl arched a brow upon recognizing Arturia. "mrmy rai moi…" she said, amidst a mouthful of custard and red bean.

"Uhhh…" Arturia replied. She could only look on in confusion at the redhaired girl's food-filled words. The girl swallowed her mouthful of taiyaki and cleared her throat before trying again.

"Sorry I pointed my gun at you. I thought you'd hurt Nate… uhh, well, you did but… umm… y'know what I mean." she said, with a shrug. The girl took another bite of her taiyaki and began to chew again, turning away to watch the park's scenery shift in the wind. Out of everything Arturia thought would happen, it certainly hadn't been that.

"The seat's free if you still want it," said the redhead, not even bothering to look back at her.

"I… thank you," she said. With seemingly no other choice, she sat down on the bench.

"Yup," the girl said.

With nothing else to do, she continued munching on the tasty snack in her hand. She glanced at the dark haired girl beside her, before giving a sigh and relaxing the stress from her shoulders. It was an awkward silence as they ate, with only the occasional light gust of wind to break the stillness. The grass here was different from the park Shirou had brought her to, a lively green with ferns and different colored flowers lining the flowerbeds at the side of the road, although the touch of winter had caused them to droop slightly. In the distance, she watched small birds hopping around on the pond bank and an elderly couple slowly making their way on the park trail.

She had almost gotten to the tail of the fish when the girl spoke again.

"So... what was your first name?" the girl asked suddenly.

"Huh?" said Arturia. The statement caught her by surprise.

"Your first name. Nate said your name was Sable, but he wasn't sure if you meant your first or last name. I mean there's always the assumption you'd go by your first name since you're from the US or Europe but then there's the fact we're in Japan so maybe you were using your last name? I mean, Sable sounds like a last name but it also works as a first name and…" rambled the girl. Arturia noticed that the girl's speech was odd, as if her words streamed together like a limerick or song.

"It's Arturia," she said, stopping the girl's stream of words. She supposed telling her name couldn't hurt, she'd already given it out to everyone at the Butterfly cafe.

"Oh. right. Arturia Sable then," the girl said with a nervous smile, "Heh. Sorry, I tend to ramble on sometimes when I meet new people."

Arturia returned a smile. She found her nervous traits slightly endearing, reminding her of another certain magus that became flustered when under pressure… or in proximity to electronics.

"What was your name?" Arturia asked in return.

"Huh? Oh," the girl said. She extended out her hand towards Arturia. "Lynn Linden at your service."

Arturia completed the handshake with her hand and then found her arm oscillating up and down from Lynn's energetic handshake. Arturia retracted her hand from Lynn's grip with slightly more relief than she should have felt.

"It's nice to me you again, Ar-tur-ia," Lynn said, mouthing the words. She stopped and thought for a moment, "you have a… peculiar name. Has anyone ever told you that?"

Arturia's head tilted as she thought about Lynn's words. She hadn't heard anyone comment on her name before but that may have been due to the fact she had not met many people after her summons. Even when she had been free to roam the Fuyuki with Irisviel, it had been under the name of Saber.

"A little, although I have not met that many people over here," Arturia said. She'd had to correct her name's pronunciation to Manager Yui and several of the girls at the Butterfly cafe, but she'd always thought that was simply due to the fact that her name was foreign.

"Oooh, yah? Where you from?" Lynn asked, her face perking up.

"Britain…" Arturia said. Lynn began to say something but she interrupted her. "Is your friend, Nathaniel, doing well then?" she asked, hoping to change the subject.

"Nath… oh… y'mean Nate? Oh, he's just hunky dory," she said. Arturia raised an eyebrow at the unusual expression.

"It means he's alright," explained Lynn. "Don't worry. Nate's made of sterner stuff than that."

"I see..." she replied. "I was worried his wounds were more severe than I had originally anticipated." From what she remembered of the wound she'd given him, she was amazed he was even still alive.

"Don't be silly," Lynn said with a snort. "You did great. From Nate's description, you're a better healer than even Doc Fujinawa, and he's a damn good spirit healer. I'm sure you'd do quite well in the Association with that skill."

Arturia almost slammed her taiyaki into her face at Lynn's words. Once again, she felt her stomach freefall in her chest. "Mmm," she muttered incoherently. Stuffing her mouth full of red bean, she hoped to buy enough time to figure out a deflecting question.

"Lynn," Arturia said after she finished chewing, "I never did ask you, but when I woke up you had all this information and pictures on those whiteboards. What do you and Nate do exactly?"

"Eh?" said Lynn. Wiping the custard from her mouth, she said, "Nate never told you?"

"No…" muttered Arturia. She didn't mention she almost killed Nathaniel before he could even talk.

"Ah, I see," she replied, "well… Nate and I work for an organization called Shin'i partially under the Japanese government, You've probably never heard of us less you were an Association enforcer. Our job, along with the dozens of other national agencies worldwide, is to protect people."

"What do you mean? Like bodyguards?" she said, biting into her taiyaki.

"No, more like national law enforcement. Police," Lynn replied.

"I thought that's what the Church and Magus Association were there for? To protect people?" Arturia said.

Lynn scoffed, suppressing a laugh. "The Church and Association protect interests. They protect their secrecy. The one thing they don't protect is people. Most people can't afford to wait while bodies pile up high enough until the Association or Church can be bothered to get off their fucking arses."

Her cheeks flushed red for a moment. "Ekk. I get caught up sometimes. Sorry for the language, Arturia," Lynn gave a nervous laugh before continuing, "however, when it comes down to it, the truth is that it's up to the small organizations like us to work together to protect people when the 'Big Two' can't be bothered that day."

"I see…" Arturia said. "I have simply never heard of any of this before. This is all new to me."

"Hah, I hope so. Nate always said if we were well known it meant we failed somewhere," replied Lynn, the side of her mouth in a grin.

"So then those pictures…" Arturia said.

"Were from before the fire. You probably haven't heard of it, but magi from the Association fight a battle in Japan once every fifty years or so. Some sort of tournament to the death for some ultimate magic prize. We're here to investigate what happened in that tournament and who started the fire," Lynn said.

Lynn gave a cat-like yawned, stretching her arms in the air. Beside her, Arturia sat silently chewing her food looking at the birds hopping around across the pond. The fact Lynn was treading

"Seems kind of dumb to me," Lynn continued. "I have my friends, Nate, and a great job that also lets me travel. Kinda silly to risk all that for a one-in-six chance at victory don't you think? I mean, that's like playing five bullet russian roulette."

Arturia raised a brow at the term. "What was that? Was it a kid's game?" she thought.

She paused, noticing Arturia was simply watching her talk. "Bah, I'm just shooting my mouth. Anyways, Nate initially thought you might have been a part of it but now he says he thinks you're clear. Don't worry 'bout it."

"I don't suppose…" Lynn began.

However, before she could finish her question, her pocket began to ring with a cheerful jingle. She reached into her pocket and opened her cellphone. "Hello-lo? Nate? Funny story, I was talking… what? But there… hold on… where are…? Do..."

From the way Nathaniel was continuously cutting Lynn off, it was clear to Arturia he was obviously in a hurry.

"Nate? Naaaate… Damn it all..." Lynn down at the phone, her brow creasing in irritation.

Lynn sighed before pocketing her cellphone. "Sorry to take off so soon, it seems like Nate needs my expertise once again." She rose from the bench and waved goodbye to her. "It was nice to meet you again under better circumstances, Ria… Umm, is it okay if I call you that?"

"Ria… Ria…" muttered Arturia, pondering the name. She supposed it would be more convenient than having to explain her name or spell it out to everyone she met like she did now. She made a mental note to to test it on Manager Yui tomorrow.

"I suppose that would be fine, Lynn," she said.

"Alright. Well, until next time, Ria," Lynn said with a grin. Pivoting on her boots, she headed down the park path towards the nearby road.

"Oh, I know it's not really my business, but you might want to take care of that prana leak problem of yours. It'll attract the wrong attention sooner or later," Lynn said over her shoulder.

"Prana leak?" Arturia said in confusion, watching Lynn disappear into the distance. She would have to ask Kiritsugu about that when he came back.

Turning her attention back down at her taiyaki, its delicious and hot contents quickly cooling in the cold temperatures, she focused on finishing it before it lost any more heat. She looked down to see a brown bag Lynn had left behind with another one of the golden pastry-shaped fishes left untouched inside. Feeling the bag, Arturia could feel it was still mildly warm inside. She looked around but Lynn was already long gone. Had anyone else been around, they might have noticed Arturia's eyes lighting up in joy.

"Well, it sure would be wasteful to simply throw it away…" she thought to herself.

* * *

><p>Emiya Kiritsugu slid the front gate closed behind him and picked up the bags of groceries from the floor before continuing down the wooden hall. There was good news at the hospital, the doctors had said they'd finally be able to release Shirou once the paperwork had gone through. It had been a long wait filled with piles of paper bureaucracy but it looked like Shirou would finally be able to go back to a home.<p>

He wondered how Saber would take it. Compared to her commanding demeanor in the war, she had been oddly subdued whenever he saw her. In fact, they had barely talked since that day after the war. It didn't help he was always busy dealing with Shirou at the hospital, fixing up this rickety old house, or calling in favors from old contacts to cover his tracks. As an assassin, his work had left him with no shortage of enemies. It would take more than just words to bury his sordid past.

If he was going to hide the presence of someone as powerful as a Servant, he couldn't do it by himself. His crest and magecraft were too specialized to effectively hide Saber's magical aura; it would be like digging a trench with a sword. She would need a better magus than himself to teach her.

The lights were on in the living room and he could dishes or pots being washed in the sink.

"That was odd…" he thought to himself.

Suddenly, two things clued into Kiritsugu's head. One, Saber was in the living room instead of her usual place practicing with a shinai in dojo or meditating in her room. Two, from the smell of baked good in the air, Saber was cooking. Suddenly, the image of Irisviel accidently setting bread on fire came to mind.

Hurrying to the living room, he gripped the door handle and pulled the rice paper frame open and looked inside.

"Saber," he said, a little louder than he intended.

"Kiritsugu!" Arturia said in surprise.

The former Servant turned away from the sink towards him, her hand holding a brush and littered with suds. The front of her jeans and black shirt were stained white with flour and her hair frazzled with a hint of white from dough; perhaps a result of scratching her head in frustration. The kitchen itself was a mess, by his own standards at least, with unwashed metal bowls and utensils on the counter, flour staining the tables and a pile of dishes piled in the sink. Not what he'd consider clean but at least the kitchen wasn't aflame as he imagined.

"I am terribly sorry, Kiritsugu. I failed to anticipate just how much time and effort it would take to simply bake a simple recipe as this. Chef Matsu truly made it appear quicker and easier than it appeared. I am sorry for the mess, Kiritsugu," said Saber. The small blonde girl bowed her head in shame at the mess around her.

Kiritsugu approached the baking tray where twelve dainty croissants lay, each one filled with cheese and ham. He took a bite, enjoying the crunchy yet soft texture.

"Apology accepted," he casually replied, focusing more on the food at hand than Saber. Taking another two bites, he easily finished off the small snack before rubbing Saber's head. He hadn't thought about it but without her blade or plate armour, Saber really looked like a kid. A smile tickling the edges of his mouth at the thought and he ruffled her hair some more.

"Kiritsugu…" said Saber, trying to fix her now messy hair.

"So what caused this sudden rush of cooking. I don't believe cooking was one of your skills when you… were with me before," he said. Even with the new alarm and counter-surveillance boundary field around the home, he wanted to be careful with his words.

"They are not. Chef Matsu taught me how to bake at work and I simply wished to test my culinary skills at home,"

"Well, consider the test a success," he said before taking another of the mini-croissants. Saber panicked as she saw him bite it.

"Kiritsugu! Try not to ruin your appetite and… and I… I am having those for lunch tomorrow and… momph..." Saber's worries were stifled by the sudden pastry that had entered her open mouth.

"Fine, this'll be the last one," he said. Arms crossed and eyes narrowed, it was evident Saber was angry at him yet not mad enough to quit chewing her croissant.

He responded to her irritated expression with a grin, before walking past her into the kitchen. "Help me clean up the counter and I'll make dinner. Maybe you can be le sous-chef tonight, Saber."

Saber stood there for another moment with a confused look on her face, munching on her food, before nodding toward him. While he stored the new groceries into the fridge, Saber wiped down the counters and washed the dishes in the sink. By the time he finished storing the last daikon in the fridge, she had cleaned, washed and arranged the stack of bowls and plates by size and type.

"My… that was really fast," he remarked.

"I had to learn to be quick at the Butterfly. Matsu and Manager Yui count on me so I can't be slow," said Saber, beaming with scarcely contained pride.

He brought out a pair of carrots, potatoes, tomatoes and chicken from the refrigerator before placing them on separate cutting boards, the chicken for him and vegetables for her. Taking the vegetable peeler from the drawer, he handed it handle first to Saber.

"I don't suppose you know how to peel and dice the the tomatoes and carrots?" he asked. She had been a king, not a cook, after all.

"Actually, yes. Those were the first tasks I helped Chef Matsu with," she said. Taking the peeler, she quickly set to work washing then skinning the carrots.

"Then, I guess you've had some experience cooking while you've been working at the Butterfly then?" asked Kiritsugu, as he set to work cutting the chicken.

"Not initially," she replied, focused on the task of peeling.."When I began my duties there, Yui simply had me washing dishes and cleaning the tables but I suppose Chef Matsu noticed me watching him on my spare time and decided to make me his apprentice."

"You could have just asked me. If I'd known you were interested I could have had you help me here," he said. Placing the beef on the cutting board, he looked for his knife.

"Well, I knew you were busy, Kiritsugu. The last thing I wanted to do was burden you knowing you were busy at the hospital and fixing your home. After all, I've already burdened you enough by living here," she said.

Kiritsugu flinched at what Saber had said: "your home." Opening the nearby drawer, he looked through the utensils for his knife all the while thinking about her words. Perhaps he'd been more distant that he realized.

"Saber, it's your home too," he said turning towards her. "You're always welcome here if you want to stay."

Saber turned towards him, her olive green eyes staring towards him in surprise. She opened her mouth but failed to find words.

"Thank you, Kiritsugu," she finally said.

"There's no need. I think, given how I treated you during the war, it's the least I can do," he said.

"Things were different then," she said. She finished peeling the carrots and started on the potatoes. He nodded. A different life and a different world, but that was all over now. While Saber finished peeling the rest of the vegetables, he quickly finished chopping up the chicken and placing it aside before working on the cilantro.

"It was a difficult time, for the both of us," he replied.

"So how has your work been?" Kiritsugu said, hoping to change the dour subject. "I know you've been working there for over a week now, but I never really asked…"

The truth of the matter was that he'd investigated the Butterfly Cafe before Saber has even begun to work there, looking for . However, he'd never actually asked her if she'd enjoyed working there. That had been, in truth, tertiary concern of his.

She raised her hand to silence him. "I understand. My work has been busy but that helps at least keep me focused. While it may not be the most glorious of work, it at least provides me with something to do than simply train all day. Chef Matsu, as I said before, teaches me how to cook when there's spare time and Manager Yui is nice although rather painfully unorganized. Most of the girls I am working with are really friendly, although Izumi could really improve her tardiness. I… like working with everyone there."

"There was, however, something different today. Not at work though," she said, her eyes looking away in thought.

"Oh?" he replied, glancing at her.

"I met that lady again at the park today. The one from two weeks ago I told you about? Her name is Lynn and she was actually quite pleasant now that I got to meet her on better terms," she said.

"What!?" he cried out in alarm. "Why didn't you tell me sooner? Did she harm you? Are you alright?"

Saber raised a brow in confusion. "No, I am fine. She did not harm me. Mostly, we just talked."

"Was she following you?" he asked.

"Following me?" said Saber, dumbfounded at his words. "Of course not. In fact, it was I who met her by sheer chance. If anything, it seemed she was the one that seemed scared," she said.

"You should have told me sooner, Saber," he said, pushing the point.

She put down the peeler and potato.

"Kiritsugu, I am not some child that needs to be pampered or protected," Saber replied, arms crossed in irritation. "If I truly believed there was a threat to my safety, I would have informed you sooner, not that it would have mattered as you always away and come home very late. In fact, I believe this is the first time you've returned this early. In any case, I'm unsure how I would even contact you if I required your assistance so that point is entirely moot."

The anger from her voice stung him like a whip and he looked at her, dumbfounded.

She turned towards him, her piercing eyes staring at him now. "I am still an excellent warrior and swordsman, Kiritsugu, despite what you may have thought during the war. Do not treat me as some mewling babe to be coddled, it belittles both of us. Simply… trust me. That is all I ask."

There was a resounding silence as she finished speaking, Saber's knuckles almost white gripping the counter. He suddenly felt tired, as if the world were upon his shoulders again.

"You're right, Saber, " he said. "You're right. I'm sorry. It's just that without your Noble Phantasm or your strength now, I feel that I'm responsible for protecting you now that you live here and that means I have to be suspicious of everything. I guess old habits die hard."

He turned his attention back to chopping the herbs, letting the tension recede with the silence. As much as he hated to admit it, he didn't know how to trust people.

During the war, he'd kept everything to himself. Even Maiya and Irisviel had been merely tools to draw out and eliminate the other Masters. One had been the perfect soldier while the other had been an important tool. He hadn't trusted either of them to inform them of his plans in the war; it had been safer and more expedient that way. And yet, even with the people closest to him around him, it had felt as if he'd fought the entire war by himself.

"So what was she like? Was she… nice…?" he finally asked. Kiritsugu couldn't even remember the last time he'd even used that word, as if it were a foreign notion. _Nice..._

His question caught Saber off guard, causing her to almost nick her hand with the knife.

"Who? Lynn?" she asked and Kiritsugu nodded in confirmation. "I would say so. She's really friendly, yet shy at times and from what I can tell seems nice. I cannot foresee her being the dangerous homicidal killer you suspect everyone of being," she replied.

Kiritsugu's mouth twitched, annoyed at the verbal jab.

"Saber…" he began to say.

"It might be naive, given how little I've talked with her, but I like her. That is my view of her," Saber said. Her tone indicated a sort of finality on the matter.

"Very well, Saber. Then I will respect your opinion on this matter," he said.

"Thank you," she replied.

It wasn't surrender on her part. It wasn't a victory on his but, for the moment, it was enough for him. An unspoken truce by two very different soldiers. He could live with that.

He placed the herbs aside and began to boil a pot of water before he noticed Saber looking at him once more.

"Another question, Kiritsugu?" Saber said. Her tone seemed softer now.

"Of course," he replied.

"What is a sous?" she asked.

Kiritsugu failed to suppress a chuckle. "It's French," he said, before beginning his explanation.

* * *

><p><em>Step. Parry. Step. Swing.<br>_  
>Arturia swung forward towards her imaginary opponent before relaxing her stance and lowering her shinai to the ground. She looked at the clock on the wall: 8:45 pm.<p>

Normally, she'd retire for a bath by now but she had tomorrow off. Manager Yui had said something about Izumi needing the hours for the upcoming "anime-con thing." Arturia could have protested, but she didn't really want to cause a big commotion, especially due to her working status here. She remembered Kiritsugu saying she was essentially an illegal immigrant, a dour if accurate truth for her condition. Arturia didn't want to admit it, but she had been extremely lucky to even find work in Fuyuki. There were no open positions looking for able swordsmen, especially none in her decrepit condition.

Arturia sighed, thinking about her current situation once more. Without her prana burst, she was no better than a simple fifteen-year old girl. Her eyes closed and she felt her brow knit in frustration. If only she could fix it...

She swung the shinai forward once more, hearing the bamboo sword whistle in the air, testing its weight before holding it ready. She took several deep breathes and she could feel the chill air of the dojo against the sweat on her skin as she prepared herself for what came next.

Arturia decided to start small, less she have a complete repeat of last time. She concentrated, focusing the prana in her body into her arms. Gripping the wooden handle with renewed strength, she swung downward against an imaginary foe.

Searing pain, like scalding water, burned her arms and she collapsed to the floor; a scream of pain roaring from her throat. If felt as if her arms were covered in molten steel. Arturia rolled against the wooden floor, gasping in pain as she forced herself to simply breathe; her throat hoarse. The burning seemed to grow in intensity, like a spreading fire, and Arturia screamed once more. She rolled against the floor, hopelessly trying to extinguish this unending fire.

Long moments passed before she finally lay still. Slowly, she came to as the pain eventually subsided leaving her fatigued and breathless. It felt as if every bone in her arms had been broken by Berserker and incorrectly mended back together. She felt wetness and, for a brief moment, her mind feared it was blood before looking to find her white shirt drenched in water. Blurry in the distance was the scattered tray she'd brought with her for practice. She vaguely recalled colliding with something while she had been thrashing about on the dojo floor. It must have been the cup and jug of water she'd spilled.

Still too tired to move, Arturia lay there on the wooden floor simply staring at the mess she'd made and waiting for her body to recover. She closed her eyes, feeling droplets of water roll down the sides of her face.

_Useless..._

She lay there silently for long minutes, her head lolled against the floor, before weakly rising to her feet. She sighed at the mess before her. She had to clean up this mess before Kiritsugu found out, if he hadn't heard her cries already. However, one thing at a time, clean clothes and then grab the mop from the house's closet.

Tired, hurt, and defeated, Arturia left the dojo.

She crossed the house's yard, the chilly winter air and wet grass causing her to slightly shiver before re-entering the main house. Arturia slipped into her room quietly, feeling her muscles ache in protest as she took long moments pulling the wet shirt off and replacing it with a clean one from the drawer. Her throat parched, she headed towards the kitchen.

"Kiritsugu?" she said, opening the main room's ricepaper door. It was empty. On the refrigerator was a sticky note.

_"Forgot to buy something for tomorrow. Will be back soon."_

_- Kiritsugu_

She raised a brow at the note. It was unusual for Kiritsugu to forget something on the grocery list, especially considering his habit of over planning for everything. She grabbed a clean glass from the cupboard before opening the fridge and filling the glass with bottled water. Several of the pipes in the house were too old and rusty to safely run drinking water through the house's sinks, so for the meantime they had been forced to buy bottled drinking water until Kiritsugu could affect repairs to all the plumbing.

Arturia had just finished her glass of water when the doorbell rang, which was odd given the late time. She slowly made her way to the front gate, her arms still aching from her attempt at using her prana in the dojo. She opened the gate to see Lynn, her green coat zipped up to her neck against the night cold. The girl was looking away from her, staring down the street at something in the distance.

"Lynn?" said Arturia, breaking the girl's concentration.

"Ria?" Lynn said, her eyes were wide in surprise. "My lord, you look absolutely horrid, lass. Are you alright?"

Arturia's felt heat rise to her cheeks before shaking her head. "I am fine, Lynn. How may I help you?"

"Well, if you say so..." said Lynn. However, the redhead still looked worriedly towards her. "Anyways, Nate said it wouldn't really matter since he'd return everything after the end of the investigation, but since I bumped into you today I figured it'd be rude to let you think it'd perished in the fire.

Fishing into her pockets, Lynn pulled out a beautiful ruby heart-shaped necklace; Rin's heirloom. She handed it towards Arturia, the red gem shining against the exterior house lights. Arturia took the necklace, examining the jewel in her hand. Arturia had thought she'd lost it when she'd arrived at city hall. Rin's jewel was precious to her, not because of its monetary price but because it was the only link she had to the past.

Pressing the jewel to her chest, she looked back toward Lynn. Arturia stood there, trying to think of kind enough words to express her gratitude, before failing. In the end, she gave a simple said "thank you."

"Oh, don't worry about it," she said bashfully. "I figured you might miss an heirloom as important as this. Like I said, we were supposed to return all of it after our investigation anyways."

"Oh! Also, I brought your pant… the clothes you were wearing that day," Lynn said in embarrassment. She handing her the brown paper bag and it took Arturia a moment to decipher Lynn's meaning before she felt the heat rise to her face.

"I… thanks," she said. Arturia was sure her face was now a tinge of scarlet that complemented the crimson necklace in her hand. At the very least, it looked like Lynn's cheek color matched her own. Wordlessly, she gingerly took the brown paper bag.

"Anyways, night then, Ria," she said, beginning to turn away. However Arturia raised her hand to stop her.

"Wait. Before you left at the park, you said something about a mana problem?" she asked.

"Wha? You're kiddin, right?" replied Lynn with a wry smile. However, it turned down as she looked at Arturia's confused expression.

"Oye… you're not kidding," said Lynn. There was an odd expression on her face, a mixture of bemusement and interest. She rubbed the bottom of her chin with her hand, contemplating her next words.

"It's… umm… actually really basic, kinda like sheathing a sword or holstering your pistol in public," she said.

"I see…" stated Arturia, nodding her head. She tried to focus on her words while ignoring the way Lynn's hands seem to form an intricate dance as she spoke. It was oddly mesmerizing.

"Basically, magi naturally leak a minute amount of prana from their body, which forces your body to work harder to replace it. Kids are normally taught how to control and conceal their prana circulation, which is why I didn't really want to bring it up. It's also very threatening in magi society. The only time you'll see a magus fully released like that is in combat, when you need to gather prana quick to cast spells and the restrictions would interfere with optimal prana usage. Really, I wouldn't have even mentioned it, but you're radiating a scarily strong aura. I could feel it when you were still walking down the park trail today," she said.

"Truly, at such a distance?" Arturia said with surprise.

Lynn nodded.

Arturia felt a shiver down her spine. She'd never encountered anything such as that in her era nor had Merlin ever mentioned such an issue. However, if what Lynn was saying was true, then simply living with Kiritsugu and Shirou could put them in serious danger not to mention attracting the attention of other magi. She had to fix this problem quickly before it attracted too much unwanted attention. She began to speak before stopping in hesitation. Should she really ask Lynn for help? She recalled Kiritsugu's words and his fear of dangers. She didn't even know the magus that well, and there was countless risks with entrusting Lynn to help her and yet… her instincts told her she could trust the small magus. Arturia made her decision.

"Lynn, you said there was a solution for this problem. Could you help me fix i?" asked Arturia.

"Eh!? I… uh… well..." sputtered Lynn, hesitant. Arturia thought Lynn had blanched several shades from the request, but that may have been a trick of the door lights.

"I don't mean to force the issue, Lynn. It is fine if you do not wish…" she said.

"No, no, it's fine. Nate just gets antsy when I stick my nose in other people's business… Eh, don't worry about it. I guess I could help you now if that's good for you. Shouldn't take longer than a few minutes I suppose." Lynn replied slightly nervously.

"Excellent," said Arturia. "Please, come in." With no pockets to hold the gem, she placed the crimson necklace around her neck before heading back in; wincing slightly from the pain.

Lynn looked back outside, searching for anything amiss in the darkness of the night. Her hand stayed at her waist pistol holster for a moment, before she redid the strap holding the hammer.

"Odd, I thought I saw _something_ there..." Lynn muttered, before heading inside.


	5. Chapter 4

_**- Reforged: The Twin Blade -  
>- Chapter 4 -<strong>_

**_- Weaving a Lie -_**

"Assassin. Murderer. Coward. Magus Killer... And now father. Quite an interesting portfolio you've acquired, Emiya Kiritsugu," said the man across from him, putting down the folder he'd been looking at.

Kiritsugu sat down at the old oak table, its history written in faint coffee mug stains.

The coffee shop they were in was located on the Miyama side of Fuyuki, nestled in the divide between two residential municipalities. Despite the numerous locals filling up the booths and tables, the crowd was oddly muted and hushed perhaps due to the fire. Even now, search crews were still finding the ashen remains of bodies even two weeks after the fire.

Kiritusugu scrutinized the man sitting across from him. He epitomized the term "G-man," wearing a tailored midnight black suit with matching black tie and white dress shirt. The fresh pressed clothes put him at odds with the local attire yet despite that there was something unsettling about him. He'd dealt with law enforcement before and this man wasn't a simple cop or detective. There

His sources hadn't been able to provide him much more information on the elusive Shin'i agency except that money from the Japanese government financed it. However, he knew how these organizations worked. Like the Association or Church, their cloak and dagger secrecy meant dark skeletons in their closet.

"Can a man not change? Is it a sin to have family, Agent McNab?" replied Kiritsugu.

"No. But most men in your profession normally expire before they reach that last step," replied McNab.

"Hoping for a light at the end of the tunnel?" he said.

The man's mouth rose to a grin. "There's no paradise at the end of the line for men like me," replied McNab. "Our work consumes us like a ship circling Charybdis. So tell me, what would change a man like you then?"

A memory flashed across Kiritsugu's mind. Brilliant long white hair, piercing crimson eyes with an enchanting smile. Bringing the mug of tea up, he hid his grin behind the cup.

"A woman," he replied.

"Ah, yes," said the Agent, leaning back against the wooden chair. He picked up his mug of coffee and took a sip. "There's always a woman."

"And a girl," Kiritsugu said.

"Arturia," answered McNab. Kiritsugu simply sipped his coffee. He wouldn't correct the agent's mistake for him.

The agent continued talking, "you mentioned taking care of her after finding her, but you never did say how or where you found her.

"You're right. I didn't," he said. His tone made it clear that was the end of that topic.

"Of course," said the man dryly. He looked back down at the folder he'd been reading. "So the famed Magus Killer disappears for nearly ten years and finally reappears after the Grail War and the deaths of hundreds of people. Can't blame me for finding it funny."

"I'm not that man anymore," he said. His eyes narrowed in irritation. He'd already told him this the last time they'd met.

"I'm aware. I just find it amazing someone such as yourself could change so rapidly and yet…" he said.

"Yet?" Kiritsugu replied. The man's statement had piqued his curiosity.

You came here last and unarmed without checking the exterior of the building. When you walked in, you missed checking the old pensioner in the corner and that young lady behind the booth, and your back is facing the door when you sat down leaving an obvious blindspot. You're either a different man or the most incompetent or cocksure assassin I've ever met," McNab said.

He thought about the younger man's words for several seconds before finally smiling.

"I suppose," he said, "I just got tired playing that game. Too much time dealing with magi. Lost too many things close to me."

McNab leaned back in his chair, the frame squeaking against the shift in pressure. "The woman?" he finally said.

"The woman," Kiritsugu said with a nod.

He gave a bitter smile as he thought about the war. Ten years all lost. His beautiful Irisviel now gone. Ilya held prisoner. Maiya gone. Everything burnt on a twisted grail. The only thing he had left was Shirou… and Arturia. It was an odd coincidence, they had both been at their strongest during the war and now they'd both fallen; both connected to one another through circumstance.

"Now then, you called me here. To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" said McNab, crossing his legs as he relaxed in his leather seat.

"I thought we had a deal. I would answer your questions and you guaranteed me you wouldn't involve Arturia in this investigate," he said. There was no hostility in his voice, just a search for answers.

"You seem to have me at a disadvantage," replied McNab.

"This afternoon, your partner interrogated my daughter as she returned from work. I would like to know why," said Kiritsugu.

The man looked back at Kiritsugu before giving a knowing smile.

"Agent Linden is a force all of her own," he said before taking a sip of coffee, "you have a daughter, Mr. Emiya. Does she do everything you ask her to do?"

Ilya popped into his mind. He recalled numerous incidents working with mismatched pink and black socks or playing unintentional hide-and-seek with Ilya as he called to her for dinner in the massive Einzbern castle. '_Ordered'_ wouldn't be a word he'd use to described Ilya.

"No. She does not," he said.

"Then you understand my frustration. Rest assured, my partner was not in fact interrogating your foster daughter. You kept your end of the deal, I have no reason to renege on my side. In any case, I did not order my partner to talk with your daughter, nor did she inform me about it and I have serious doubts Linden would have the malice or motivation to do it of her own accord."

"So you're saying their meeting was purely accidental?" Kiritsugu asked.

"I believe the word fits my colleague quite well, amongst other things," McNab replied, downing the rest of his mug.

His eyes narrowed at McNab. He knew the man was dangerous, but he had also met Agent Linden before. She had been… considerably different from the man before him. The girl was as aloof as Ilya and as bright and perky as Iris.

"That is all, Mr. Emiya?" asked McNab.

He mulled over his thoughts before finally nodding. Pushing off the table, he began to rise before the agent slapped a thick folder on the table.

"There is _one_ last thing," said McNab.

"What's is this?" Kiritsugu asked. He turned the folder towards him and opened the cover. The handwritten notes, full-page photos and forensic reports in the folder were familiar to him. Three preliminary investigation reports for three murders. Oddly, the third report seemed largely incomplete along with missing an autopsy report. Which meant the third must have occurred recently enough for the coroner not to be finished his work.

"Authorities are trying to keep it quiet, but it'd only be a matter of time before it leaks out. You will notice, however, a pattern?" said McNab, tapping one of the photos.

Kiritsugu nodded. All of the victims were young women with bright blonde hair.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Crime Scene: Nicole Anderson<em>**

_Earlier that afternoon..._

The weather had changed into a light rain by the time Lynn had finally reached Nate's location. Luckily, her green winter coat let her weather most of the rain and wind. She approached the two uniformed policeman at the mouth of the alley, yellow tape barring the path behind him. Beyond, she could see crime scene personnel in white scrubs examining the crime scene for any kind of evidence. She had a hunch they wouldn't be finding much.

The younger of the men raised his hand toward her as the senior one stood behind. "I'm sorry, ma'am. There's been a terrible crime committed here. I can't let you through."

Lynn raised an eyebrow at the man's words. He must have been very new given the way he spoke. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her ID. "I'm with the NPA, Criminal Investigation Bureau. My partner's already on the scene."

"Another? I didn't know the NPA recruited outside Japan?" the senior officer said gruffly, lifting the tape to let her pass.

"There's a lot you don't know," replied Lynn with a knowing smile. Slipping under the tape, she headed towards Nate who stood outside of a neon yellow tent waiting for her. As usual, he wore his 'secret service standard' suit. Somedays, she wondered if that was all he had in his wardrobe; a closet filled with copy and pasted suits.

"Agent Linden," Nate said with a nod.

"Nate," she replied. Even though his eyes were hidden by the dark shades, he could feel his annoyance at the name. He'd always prefered the uptight term Agent McNab which she'd always thought was silly. They weren't automatons, they both had first names.

"What've we got?" she said, getting right to business. The way he'd been talking earlier, it must have been urgent.

"Victim's a twenty-eighty year old caucasian female," he replied. He lifted the tent flap, motioning her forward. She entered the enclosed tent, almost blinded from the amount of lights in the tent, although at least rather happy at least to be out of the rain. She was aware of the irony of the statement given her elemental affinity.

Laying in the middle of the protective tent was the victim's body, protected from the outside wind and rain. The victim seemed to be in her early twenties and lay on her chest, her eyes open staring at Lynn's shoes. The woman's white blouse was drenched in blood, several large wounds leaving streaks of red down her shirt and trailing outside the tent. She lay in a small pool of her own blood.

"Swab tested positive for trace amounts of prana, so it looks like our killer from five days ago. Not unless we have two killers on the loose," announced Nate. "Her name's Nicole Anderson. Works for Sanita Studios as a junior accountant. Transferred from the US branch to here for a change in scenery a little over a year ago. Bad career decision. Kitchen cook found her in the alley while taking out the garbage late this morning. From the blood trail our victim left, it looks like she ran from the killer down this alley before finally expiring here."

"She's blonde. Young too, early twenties." Lynn said, kneeling down to examine the girl. "Just like our other victims. Might be an MO for our killer."

"Facts first, conjecture later, Linden," said Nate.

"Always with the facts, Nate," she thought to herself. Lynn uttered a minor chant, pulling a stream of glowing mist from the victim's chest.

"What have you got?" Nate asked.

"There's still foreign prana residue in the victim's heart," announced Lynn.

Much like modern forensic science, there was a certain science behind the power magi wielded. There were rules a magus had to follow and even the smallest spells required power to be cast and maintained. Magic had rules. In this case, spells always left residual prana on the environment after use much like blood splatter or gunpowder residue. If there was a spell cast on a body, any residual prana would collect at the cores of the body, like water collecting in a depression, before eventually releasing back into the air.

"Time of death around 1000, today," Lynn reported before looking at the rest of the victim's body. "Doesn't look like there's any bite marks in the usual places and the body's too intact for the Dead's handiwork. Hold on."

Looking around the tent, she made sure they were alone before starting another spell. This one was longer, nearly five lines in length. It was a long spell, but then again most magi weren't searching for forensic evidence in the heat of battle. Finishing the spell, she closed her eyes and then opened them once more.

Azure tinged her view and she gasped as she felt the rush of information flow in. It was as if she'd been colorblind and only now found the joy of color. A plethora of information filled her mind wherever she looked: the density of dust and smog in the air, Nate's body temperature, height and weight. Looking at the ground, she could identify the different shoeprints on the ground and their individual paths. It was both exhilarating and euphoric at the same time, like taking that first breath of air after nearly drowning. Adrenaline shot through her body as her heartbeat raced to a new tempo. Lynn placed her hand on the pavement to steady herself as she let the new sensations wash over her senses.

"You alright?" asked Nate, looked down at her.

"Yes," she said breathlessly. "Just… made some... modifications to the spell recently. Didn't expect to take in so… much."

It had been a natural development given the rise of modern forensic science and human laziness. Why bother the forensic team when she could use a 'little' magecraft to reconstruct a vase from all its fragments or compare two fingerprints or blood samples right at the scene. There was no need for a four hour wait period and an infrared spectrometer or mass spectrometer when a five-line spell would accomplish the equivalent analysis.

The spell was different for each magus, individually comprised of numerous spells to help find and identify evidence or patterns at the crime scene. Sometimes a spell was added for weapon ballistics or another removed for glass fragment analysis if it wasn't needed for the case. Some of the techs had given it an alphabet soup name, EPA, Evidence Pattern Analysis spell. She just preferred calling it Magic.

Of course, all of this was made up by the fact she'd need a second lunch to simply make up for the energy she spent here. Nate might have complained about the amount she ate, but there was a cost for having such a nifty spell. Of course, it didn't help Nate had interrupted her meal today.

"The victim, Linden?" said Nate.

Lynn looked at the body, neon crimson highlighting the wounds Nicole had received moments before her death. She let Magic do it's work as she examined the wounds. "Numerous wounds lay on her back, most likely received as she was running away. One penetrated her lung and another cut the aorta. With that blood loss, she would have went into shock in less than a minute followed by death soon after. She also has cuts on both arms... mostly around the forearms and wrists as well, cutting through the fabric on her shirt. There's something odd, however…" said Lynn.

Turning back to the girl, Lynn looked back at Nicole's wounds. Lynn's brow creased as she tried to identify the weapons that caused each the wounds. She estimated there were six weapons in total, not counting the lacerations on her arms.

"What's odd?" asked Nate.

"Given what I've discovered from the body's wounds, the killer used an amorphous weapon or a spell to kill our victim. However, if it were a spell there should have been heavier traces of prana on the body. Meaning… unless our kill was lugging six different blades together, our killer's weapon changes shape on command. There's also something odd with the depth of the incised wounds on her back," Lynn said, opening one of the long slashes on the back.

"Relatively shallow for knife wounds," said Nate, leaning down to take a look. "less than an inch in depth."

"Exactly. Nicole's puncture wounds were the most severe. The slashing damage, quite frankly, seems superficial,," reported Lynn.

The flaps of the tent lifted up and the young officer from before poked his head in. "Agent McNab, Inspector Kurosawa wants to talk with you. Something about jurisdiction?"

Nate sighed and glared at the officer, forcing the man to shirk back nervously. "I'll deal with this, Linden. Keep looking," With an irritated grunt, he followed the officer out of the tent.

Looking around the tent, she wished she'd had time to bring her own forensic tool case from the apartment. However, with the current downpour, she might miss evidence if she went back to get it. She opened up several silver forensic cases in the tent before finally taking out a blank sheet of laminated paper.

"This'll have to do," said Lynn. Donning a pair of latex gloves from the nearby case, she gently placed her hand on Nicole's head.

Uttering another slew of incantations, she felt her heart flutter as her spell finished. If there'd be anyone looking, they may have attributed the sudden breeze that buffered the tent to the wind outside. Opening her eyes, she looked at the image now imprinted on the sheet of photo paper.

It was a ground view of the alley, Nicole's final vision before the last of her life came to an end as she lay bleeding. Alone. The poor girl probably scared out of her mind wishing for help as she felt the life draining from her. However, the last two victims she and Nate had investigated had been drained dry like a husk. The killer had been successful and yet something had chased him off before he could drain Nicole like the others…

Lynn pondered the scene. She was missing something.

She brought the picture closer and examined the image. There was something in the shadows behind the shipping containers, but she couldn't quite make it out; like ice over water. Lynn grumbled once more she wished she had her own forensic tools with her. She'd have to take a closer look later. Right now, she had to see what else she could find on the scene. Placing the photo into her jacket pocket, she opened the tent flap and stepped outside into the now pouring rain.

There were more forensic personnel on site now, combing the crime scene for additional evidence. McNab and someone who Lynn assumed was Inspector Kurosawa were arguing at the entrance of the alley, the older of the two closing in; a somewhat comical sight given Nate's height. Behind his shades, she could see him roll his eyes in frustration.

"...don't care who's authority you're under, I ain't heard of you. Unless I hear my Captain authorize it, I want you out of here. This is a local matter and we don't need anyone outside interfering. Now I want you and your friend off our crime scene now!" Inspector Kurosawa said. The inspector's baritone voice was easily distinguishable above the wind and rain. She could see from Magic that the dear inspector had already had at least a drink within the last hour.

"Detective Izumi autho…" Nate said.

"Isn't here," finished Kurosawa.

It looked as if Nate was going to argue back, but he simply gave a tired sigh. "Agent Linden, let's go," he said to her.

"But…" said Lynn.

However, he was already gone, crouching under the police tape and headed to the main street. She gave the inspector a smoldering glare before she ran to catch up with Nate. As she left, she could hear the gruff inspector yelling at his men.

"What are you looking at! This killer won't catch himself," Kurosawa said.

This was utter bullshit. It was bad enough when she and Nate had to follow rogue Magi outside Japan, but this legal red tape was ridiculous considering they were in their actual jurisdiction here. She caught up with her partner as he waited for her under a store awning, the light of his cell phone reflecting off his shades.

"Nate," said Lynn, her brow knotted, "our evidence is flushing down the drain along with this rain! We can't just leave it to that incompetent drunk!"

Her partner shook his head. "I know that type of man. We'd have better luck arguing with a wall. No use getting into a fight with the local authorities here, especially if we'll need their manpower. I'll get this mess sorted out and we'll have a look see in the morning. You find anything else back there?"

Lynn huffed before forcing herself to calm down. Damned bureaucracy. "I got the victim's last moment," she said pulling the photo from her jacket, "There's something there but I'll need my tools from the apartment to get a better look."

"Alright. You take a look at that for tonight. I'm going to see if I can get in contact with the Association's administrator in Fuyuki again. Could you visit the church representative? Tell him what's going on?

"The… church…?" Lynn mouthed the words as if they were filthy. "You _know_ who's working there, right? That guy gives me the creeps. What's he even _doing_ here. He's not even a minister, he's an Executor!"

Nate gave a sigh. "Just do it Lynn."

"Fine! But you're paying for dinner tonight and I get to choose where," said Lynn jamming her finger into his chest.

Nate rubbed the arch of his nose before sighing once more.

* * *

><p><strong><em>- Teach me, Mahou-sensei! -<em>**

_The Present..._

Arturia picked up the screeching kettle off the element and quickly poured the piping hot water into the dark blue teapot before bring it over to the living room table. She poured the fresh tea into mugs before taking a seat next to Lynn.

Picking up one of the mugs, Lynn blew on the hot tea before taking a sip.

"Lynn? You said you could fix that prana problem?" she asked.

"Ah, of course," she said putting down the mug. "So… I assume by the fact you're asking me for help that your father never really taught you how to use utilize your magic talent."

Arturia raised a brow in confusion before finally nodded her head. She was no fool. Arturia knew a ploy when she saw one. It was obvious she'd have to talk to her 'father' Kiritsugu once he got back. As for her magic talent, Merlin had tried to teach her the basics but between her time training for combat, battling Camelot's foes and ruling the kingdom, Arturia had never had the time or patience take up Merlin's tutelage.

"Right-o. Shouldn't be too hard in any case," Lynn said, rubbing her hands nervously together. "First things first, I'll need to do a diagnostic on your magic circuits just to get a feel on your magic potential and make sure there's nothing to worry about. I'll just run a little bit of my prana into you first. Should feel a little tingly but do tell me if anything feels wrong."

Lynn raised on of her hands in the air before pausing.

"I… uhh… could you remove your shirt? The connection works best with skin-to-skin contact… ugh that sounded dirty," said Lynn. The redhead gave an awkward smile, trying to hide her nervousness.

Arturia nodded before casually lifting her shirt off; feeling a slight chill from the air.

Lynn an uncomfortable cough before placing her hand gently on Arturia's chest, whispering incantations under her breath. Slowly she could see a sky blue light glow from Lynn's hand as a warmth grew from her chest and spread across her body. She waited, trying to remain still as the tingling in her chest began to tickle.

Arturia looked back up at Lynn whose eyes seemed distant and glazed over, as if staring through Arturia and peering into her soul. The redhead traced a path down from Arturia's neck down to the center of her chest, following an invisible path on her skin.

"A dduw… mae'n brydferth…" said Lynn. She stared at her in amazement and, for a moment, Arturia thought she saw her eyes glimmer like sapphires. A hungry smile grew on Lynn's face and she could see the edge of Lynn's canine peeking past her lips. She looked ravenous, like a wild beast eyeing fresh prey… eyeing her…

"Lynn?" said Arturia. She could feel her a growing knot in her stomach. Had her instincts guessed wrong about the girl?

Lynn opened her mouth to speak, before her eyes rolled back and she collapsed to the tatami floor.

"Lynn!" cried Arturia. She kneeled over her, trying to rouse her by shaking her shoulders.

Lynn blinked, trying to refocus her eyes. "Eh? Ria? What are you doing up… there?" said Lynn as she regained her bearings. Arturia raised a brow at her words.

"I'm leaning over you. You collapsed while performing your diagnostic," said Arturia.

"Did I? I don't remember that," said Lynn, a little perplexed.

Arturia nodded to confirm her confusion.

"Huh, how odd," she said. "I've never had that happen before."

Lynn scratched her head, confused at the situation, before finally shrugging her shoulders. "I'll have to ask my colleagues about that at the Association. Weird… Anyways, I said I would fix that problem of yours. Let me bring up the the scan results."

Lynn muttered a simple spell before materializing an ethereal diagram of her body; the bright blue of her body contrasted by the flashing layer of crimson that covered her arms. Countless numbers and tags marked her translucent body representing some statistic that probably made sense to a real magus.

"Ach! Ria, did you do this to yourself?" Lynn said, poked at the red on the hovering body.

"What do you mean?" Arturia asked. She could feel the heat of shame rise to her face even as she tried to ignore the soreness coming from her arms.

"What do I mean?! You've damaged nearly all the nerves in your arms, not to mention your circuits. If you'd fried them any worse they'd fit well with chips and a pint. I'm amazed you can even move them at all. Damn it, lass. When you said you were inexperienced I didn't think it was this bad. How'd this happen?" said Lynn.

Arturia could feel the heat rise to her face. She looked away from the Lynn's worried eyes.

"I… I tried to reinforce my body while training. I've been trying to summon my prana to do it but it fails every time and… I... It's why I asked for your help," said Arturia.

"And you've done it multiple times?! Did you think all that searing pain was a good sign?" Lynn said incredulously

"No! Of course not!" said Arturia, her voice at the edge of screaming. Lynn's eyes shot wide open and she reflexively back away.

There was a quiet crack and Arturia looked down to see the handle of the mug she'd been holding, her knuckles white in fury. The room was silent as Arturia simply stared at what her anger had done. She sighed as a wave of fatigue crash over her and Arturia slumped towards the table. She felt absolutely tired. With extra care, she placed the ceramic handle down next to the now broken mug.

"I just…" she paused, thinking about her next words.

_What did she want? To be king again? To be a warrior once more? To save Shirou, Rin and Sakura? To fix her past mistakes? All of that and more. But right now…_

"I don't want to be _useless_. I can't really do anything with my prana and… I don't want to be stuck like... _this_. Forever," her voice nearly cracked as she pointed at the ethereal diagram in the air. She pulled her legs up and hugged them, simply staring at the table. She shut her eyes, lest she let any tears show through..

_She could barely even swing a metal bat, how exactly would she use a sword in her current state?_

Arturia felt Lynn's arms wrap around her chest as she hugged her from behind, the faint yet pleasant smell of her perfume tickling her nose as she came close. She could felt the warmth rise to her face again although this time for an entirely different reason.

"L… Lynn?" she said.

Lynn didn't say anything for a moment, before finally speaking. "Just wait a bit," she asked.

Lynn was close enough to her that she could see the thin strands of burgundy hair in her peripheral vision. The redhead held the hug and, Arturia had to admit, the embrace of Lynn's warm body against hers felt… reassuring. Slowly, she felt the tension and stress drain from her shoulders and slowly slumped into Lynn's embrace. It seemed like forever since the last time she'd simply been held. All the responsibilities of war and keeping up appearances to appear strong...

After another moment, Lynn broke the silence.

"Feeling better, Ria?" she asked.

Arturia nodded her head.

"Look. Things will work out. Don't worry your head about it, aight?" continued Lynn, picking up the broken pieces of the mug. There was a blink of light, and Lynn held up the repaired cup towards her; a small cut on her finger for her troubles.

"There you are then, good as new. No need for crying, alright?" said Lynn. Arturia could practically hear Lynn's smile from her voice.

"I'm not crying," said Arturia definitely. Her face and the quiver in her voice betrayed her lie.

"We all cry. Some of us just do it inside," replied Lynn. Slowly, she released her grip on Arturia before scooting beside her.

"Here, drink the rest of your tea. It'll make you feel better," Lynn said, pushing the mug in front of her. "In the meantime, I'll get some stuff from my bag and then we'll see what we can do to start fixing that problem of yours, alright?"

"Alright," Arturia said muttered. With a bright smile, Lynn ruffled Arturia's hair before quickly scooting off to retrieve her bag in the corner of the room.

Arturia tried fixing her now disheveled hair but eventually huffing in defeat. She'd have to undo her hair if she wanted it to look remotely tidy. With nothing else to do, she sipped her tea and thought on watching as Lynn hummed a joyous melody while searching for items in her satchel.

* * *

><p>Author's Notes: Big sister comforting sad younger sister. Not lesbians. Get your minds out of the gutter.<p> 


	6. Chapter 5

_**- Reforged: The Twin Blade -**_

_**- Chapter 5 -**_

**_- Night School -_**

Summoning an ethereal pointer into existence, Lynn quickly began pointing at the diagram of Arturia's body in the air.

Adopting the aura of a professor, Lynn began to speak, "As you can see here, your circuits are undeveloped. Even if you were a fully trained magus, your number of circuits isn't that amazing. In fact, more than half of them are unopened and unused. I can't believe your father didn't train you better with your magic. This all ignores these bizarre striations you have across your body which I quite frankly have never seen before. All of this is beyond my experience as a field agent."

Professor Linden poked the diagram of Arturia's arms, highlighting the muscles and circuits with her pointer. "Just as worrying, however, is your reinforcement technique. This is not how you reinforce your body. If you want to improve your strength you need to focus your prana. As a man once said, 'you can't fix a problem by blindly throwing more men at it. Reinforcement of your own body is a precise science, ignoring the irony of that statement. Do it wrong, and you'll end up like Stephen Hawking."

"Who?" thought Arturia, tilting her head. Was that some music star she should know? Maybe one of Taiga's pop idols she loved so much.

Out loud, Arturia asked Lynn to explain.

"Well, look at this," Lynn said as she zoomed in further on the diagram, showing a close-up of one of the circuits in her arm. "You can see the scarring along your circuit walls where they burst and then healed back. Your circuits are young and frail, so when you tried suddenly to put all your prana into them they broke, which I assume would have left you in a horrific amount of pain."

Lynn leaned against the kitchen counter and she raised a hand to her chin as she pondered a thought.

"I mean… I've heard rumors of Enforcers doing this... but it'd take years of physical and magical training for your body to even survive that method, and even then it's a stupidly inefficient use of mana. It'd be like mounting a jet engine on a golf cart," she said, thinking out loud. "Never mind that. Moving on."

The red-haired magus poked the diagram once more. "The second issue is your magic crest. To magi, a magic crest is essentially like their smartphone. It allows them access to spells and power their parents and ancestors learned themselves."

"What's my problem then?" asked Arturia.

"You don't have one," said Lynn. "In fact, if you had any worse circuit quality I would say you were a second generation magus. To be frank, I can't figure out how you're projecting such a strong aura of prana given your… limited magic ability. I'm sorry, Ria. Maybe that's why your dad never tried to teach you?"

Arturia took a sip of her tea, mulling over Lynn's words while taking care not to break the mug once more. She could scarcely keep paying for new cups.

There had been some ritual Merlin had done when she'd been young to help her better utilize her prana, but even before then she had been a capable match for any of her peers. Was this what Rin had once called '_Fate's cruel sense of humour?_' Taunting her with a glimpse of hope only to snatch it away? She gritted her teeth in anger at the thought.

"Hello? Earth to Ria?" said Lynn, waving her hand at her.

"I am sorry Lynn, I was simply thinking on what you said," said Arturia. She looked into Lynn's eyes. "What can I do from now on, then?"

The redhead thought for a moment before finally saying, "Well, if I had my pick I'd have Doc Kento look you over first. But since it's unlikely you're going to join Shin'i and go through a physical, I guess that's not an option. First things first, I'd need to open your circuits. That'll let you have finer control and manipulation of them. You'll broadcast a much stronger magical signature for a while until you learn how to mask your magic essence, but it's a necessary step."

"Very well. Can you do that, Lynn?" asked Arturia.

"Uh… yeah. Yeah… of course," said Lynn, rubbing her hands together nervously. "It's easy. I just need to provide enough prana into you to activate all your circuits, so to speak."

Arturia's eyes stared at her. "Lynn…." she replied.

"Alright!" Lynn admitted, "I've never done this on a person's entire system before. Most of the time it was for helping Doc Ken with a patient for physiotherapy. I mean, in theory it should be the same but, like I said, I've never seen anyone with your circuits before."

Arturia nodded.. "I understand. If you feel comfortable with it, I'm willing to try."

"Uh, Right. I probably should have asked this first, but are you sure your dad's good with this? I mean…" Lynn said.

"I am not some puppet that always needs to constantly consult with Kiritsugu!" she said, with a little more ire than she intended. She sighed.

"Wow. I was asking just in case. Ya don't have to get angry," Lynn said waving her hands in front of her defensively.

Raising both hands towards Arturia before stopping, Lynn's green eyes looked into hers. Whispering flowing incantations, she placed both hands onto Arturia's chest; her touch still pleasantly warm from the the heat of the tea, and waited several moments…

"Lynn? What..." Arturia began to say.

Her breath caught in her throat as she felt heat spread from across her body; as if someone had thrust a hot poker into her chest. Arturia forced herself to simply breathe as the pain blossomed in her chest. She closed her eyes, perspiration dripping across her brow as she struggled to breathe.

"Ria!? I think I should maybe stop…" said Lynn. Arturia couldn't see her, but she could hear the fear in her voice.

Arturia shook her head.

"No! Keep going… I can… handle it," she gasped. Sweat drenched her hair and dripped down her back. It felt as if every muscle in her body was seizing in pain. She could endure this. She had to endure this.

There was a click and the sound of ringing steel, before Arturia felt searing pain engulf her body like molten metal pouring into her chest and filling her body to the brim. Her throat let loose a painful roar, before she collapsed to the floor.

* * *

><p>Arturia slowly came back to her senses and felt the cooling embrace of water surrounding her body. Opening her eyes, she saw the white ceiling above her and raised a hand to her head, only to find her arms wrapped in a shining liquid sheath. Oddly, the liquid was cool yet not wet.<p>

_Water?_

She looked around to see she'd been lying in a floating pool of water.

"Lynn… what is this?" asked Arturia, more curious and amused than worried. She raised her hand and watched as water cascaded down her arm.

"Oh, I was worried you were going to burst into flames so I made you a nice… water bed for you. It feels really nice during the summer actually," said Lynn, as her head poked into view above her.

Arturia pushed off the ground and rose to her feet, letting the water slide off her body and back into the floating puddle. With a minor utterance, Lynn banished the pool of water and it dissolved into the air.

"Are you okay Ria? You had me worried sick. How do you feel?" said Lynn as she grabbed the smaller girl by the shoulders.

The magus began to pace the room at a dizzying pace. "I thought you were dead for a moment but... but I saw you were still breathing and thought you might still die from what happened so I raided your fridge for ice and then I started worrying I might have messed up the spell and you might be stuck like that for a while and then I realized your dad might get home and…"

Arturia had to hold back an amused smile. The poor girl looked like she was going to burst into tears.

A tug of her arm stopped the babbling Lynn in her tracks. "Lynn, I feel fine. Truly…" said Arturia.

"You sure?" asked Lynn, her large puppy dog eyes staring at her in concern.

"Yes, Lynn. I am fine, you can stop worrying," she said.

"Oh, good! I was SO scared, Ria," she said, surprising Arturia by latching onto her like a vice.

"Lynn…" gasped Arturia.

"Mmhmm?" she replied, ignoring her victim's struggles.

"You're... crushing... me…" she said. Lynn let go and released her from her prison.

"Oh, sorry," said Lynn with a sheepish smile. "Well then? How do you feel? Anything different?"

"I feel..." murmured Arturia.

She carefully placed her hand upon Lynn's arm and felt her skin tingle as her fingers traced the girl's pale skin. Prana coursing through Lynn's body, like water running through a pipe, which seemed to ebb and flow in intensity as she held her hand still. Closing her eyes, she could 'sense' Lynn's presence in the room as if her body were a flame radiating heat.

Her fingers continued to trace the flow of mana, following it up the magus' shoulder before finally resting her hand over Lynn's heart.

Arturia recoiled back, suddenly realizing just how close she was to her.

Lynn chuckled. "Don't worry. It's normal. For magi that haven't dealt with it before, it's like discovering sight," she said with amusement.

There was a clack, and the room was bathed in darkness as the lights went out.

"I didn't need an example, universe," called out an irritated Lynn.

Arturia's brow furled in annoyance. Unfortunately, she too used to the faulty wiring here. She tried to remember if there were any nearby flashlights or perhaps one of Kiritsugu's lighters in the room. There might have been a flashlight in the cupboard nearby.

"I got it, don't worry," came Lynn's voice in the darkness. A dim orb of azure light began to glow next to her; eventually growing bright enough to show Lynn's face. Soon enough, several more orbs were floating around the now lit room; reminding Arturia vaguely of orbiting planets.

The orbs were small and shimmered like water. Grasping one by its sides, Arturia was easily able to fit into the palm of her hand before it floated upwards once more. Oddly, she couldn't discern any primary source of light from them. They lazily circled the room providing just enough light to now illuminate the room.

"I don't suppose you know where the power box is, Ria?" asked Lynn as she conjured another orb of light in place.

Arturia nodded. "I believe so. There's a panel on the other end of the house near the garage. I should be able to find it myself." She rose from the table.

"And what? Have you fumbling in the dark. Don't be silly, girl. I'll walk with you," said Lynn as she rose with her.

Sliding open the living room door, they walked down the wooden hall; the darkness seemingly stretching the distance of these familiar paths. They had just turned the first corner when she felt Lynn place something cool and wet on her head.

"Here, have a light mote," said Lynn.

Grabbing the water orb from her head, Arturia tossed a quizzical look at Lynn. Softly squeezing the mote at first, she then tossed the orb upward and squashed it against the ceiling. It plopped down into her hand after a moment and she tried to hide an amused smile upon her face.

"Hey!" Lynn turned towards her, eyes narrowing, "Toffee has feelings, y'know. Don't throw him like that."

Arturia let the mote go, and it bobbed up and down once… twice… before staying in place slightly ahead of her.

They rounded the corner and Arturia opened the sliding door, letting the faint moonlight filter into the darkness behind them. They were in the exterior hall near the edge of the house. Normally, the hall was open to the outside air, but Kiritsugu had closed the glass panes for the frigid winter nights. She shivered slightly, the cold winter air causing chills up her arms, before continuing down the creaky exterior hall.

Arturia bypassed a bucket in the hall, one of several stopgap measures to alleviate hidden leaks in the old building. She'd already tripped over it once while moving several boxes around the house. Of course, that was just one of dozens of problems with the old house.

"The floor has questionable structural integrity in this section of the house," said Arturia. She looked at the flooring to double-check her own footing before continuing on. "I believe it would be prudent if we watched our step from here on."

Arturia glanced outward at the towers of light past the house's wall. In the distance, she could make out the twin Imperial towers apartment complex.

"That was odd," Arturia thought. "If there was a power outage, wouldn't it have also affected the nearby apartment block?"

She brushed off that uncomfortable feeling. If there was any trouble, Kiritsugu's boundary field should have detected any danger. Besides, odds were it was due to a faulty fuse or cable. She was sure Kiritsugu could find the problem when he got back.

"Do you believe you can still help me with my prana problem?" she asked.

"Well, I'm a little boggled about what happened when I activated your circuits. Most patients I've helped never had that type of reaction. I'd rather ask my mentor before continuing on, if that's alright with you, Ria?" replied Lynn.

Arturia stopped in her tracks before she could reply. She felt in the air like a sickly, oily miasma. For a moment she thought she recognized this feeling from somewhere.

"Eh? What's wrong?" Lynn said, stopping beside her.

"Can't you feel that?" Arturia replied.

Lynn looked confused. "Feel what?"

Arturia felt a tingle at the edge of her senses, something she'd learned to listen to when danger was nearby. She could never accurately describe the sensation: it was a phantom's voice that told her where to look for an ambush, the sudden winter chill under a summer sun that told her to dodge an arrow, a ghost's touch that told her where to parry the next strike.

Grabbing Lynn, she threw them both to the floor as the wall exploded outward, sending wooden shrapnel into the air. Her body covering Lynn's, she looked back to see a hole in the wall even Herakles could pass through with ease. She could see something writhing in the darkness beyond but it seemed to distort and shimmer like heat in the desert.

"Lynn, we have to…" began Arturia.

Lynn's hand slammed into her shoulder with surprising force, shoving her aside. She had just enough time to see Lynn bring her gun up before opening fire. The hallway was lit up with flashes of gunfire with the shots so close Arturia could physically _feel_each shot fire.

Each shot revealed the creature's silhouette. Its entire body seemed composed of shadows and darkness but its shape seemed reminiscent of an oversized version of Caster's starfish familiars but with more limbs. Darkness like oil seemed to churn and drip to the floor before flowing back into the body. Inside its chest pulsed a crimson core, its red glow easily seen in the darkness. The sound of gunshots bounced and echoed in the hall, causing Arturia's ears to ring painfully in the aftermath.

The creature gave a guttural roar, seemingly sulking backwards before lunging forward. It slammed into a newly erected slab of ice; its numerous appendages stuck behind the wall of frozen water. Lynn gave a sigh of relief, the azure glow fading from her raised hand.

"We have to move!" said Lynn grabbing her by the shirt.

Half helping and half throwing Arturia to her feet, they rose from the rubble-strewn floor and ran back down the hall. Behind them, their assailant pounded against Lynn's barrier; its inhumane shrieks painful against Arturia's ears. She could already see cracks in the ice expanding to the edges.

"_Golau glas, rhyfel,_" muttered Lynn as they ran. Water sprung forth from her hands and travelled from up her arm before sheathing the magus' torso and shoulders. It spread across her body like an amorphous blob, before solidifying into the shape of pauldrons and ornate plate mail; a roaring lion as the chest emblem.

"Ria," she said, "I'll deal with this damned thing. Take my car keys and get to your dad."

"And leave you here with that creature?" said Arturia in disbelief.

"Don't be daft, girl. You can't do anything here," she replied.

Arturia turned down the hall, sensing the creature's presence approaching in the complete darkness. Lynn had left several orbs of light behind as they ran. They were quickly being snuffed out as the darkness approached them.

"There's no more time. Run!" said Lynn. She forced the keys into Arturia's palm and pushed her towards the door.

Once more, Lynn opened with her gun but the creature this time seemed unperturbed and rushed forward ignoring the impact of bullets. The hair on Arturia's arms tingled as she felt the prana flowing from Lynn's circuits. Even with the darkness and the noise, she could sense both the shadow and Lynn behind her as clear as day.

She slid to a stop at the front doors, searching for keys in the dim lighting. While the front door wasn't normally locked, she'd need them to unlock the main gate. Moonlight poured into the dark hall as she pried open the front doors. Turning back, she watched Lynn fight the creature.

Lynn dodged to the side as the shadow struck downward with its serrated limbs, slamming with enough force to crack the wooden floorboard. The hall flashed as Lynn fired her gun at the creature. It was a continuous cycle as the cumbersome creature struck, and Lynn rolled away firing several more rounds into it. Her body seemed to weave and move with the elegance of an acrobat as if her body floated with half its weight.

The style reminded her of an Irishman she'd met before.

The shadow struck once more, lashing out hoping to catch her in two overlapping strikes. Arturia could feel a rush of prana from Lynn before the girl leapt into the air. She rose into the air, raising her legs just in time to arch her lithe body over the razor-sharp teeth of the tentacles, before bending her knees and landing gracefully back to the floor. The creature hastily swung towards her once more but Lynn was already gone.

There was the ring of steel and Lynn drew a sword from some hidden depth of her coat. Its blade reflected a blue sheen in the darkness.

Turning her attention back to the door, Arturia pulled open the main gates and headed into the open street ahead. She scanned the street for any threats on the empty road. She supposed she should be grateful Kiritsugu's home was sequestered from other people or else there may have been more innocent bystanders around.

Arturia looked down at the keys in her hand. Was she to flee like some damsel in distress? Her chest constricted and her grip tightened around the keys at the thought, digging them painfully into her palm. She looked back.

Lynn crashed through a wall back into the hallway, the creature following close behind her. There was the sound of cracking wood and then Lynn's leg fell into the hole in the floor below. The magus had just enough time to look up before a tentacle the size of a tree trunk slammed into her chest. Arturia heard the sickly wet impact before watching in horror as Lynn's body flew down the remaining hall and landed with a thud at her feet in the street outside.

"Lynn!" Arturia yelled.

The magus lay unconscious, blood flowed from her nose and her chest armour lay cracked in a hundred pieces. The liquid armour maintained its shape for another moment, before melting and fading into air. There was a sticky wetness on the back of Lynn's head and Arturia pulled her hand away to see blood.

Still in the hall, the creature roared, its pulsing crimson heart the only light in the house's dark depths. Her eyes moved from the shadow and then to the still open gates. There was a moment as she stared at the creature and it back towards her before they moved forward simultaneously. She slammed her shoulder into the wooden gate and shut it, hearing the bolt automatically click shut. A moment later the shadow slammed into the door, specks of wood flew in the air as the wood gate bent from the blow. The gate wouldn't last for more than several seconds at this rate.

Turning back to Lynn, she saw her sword laying on the road, its cobalt sheen fading in the darkness. Arturia looked at the sword, its blade fresh with scratches and nicks from the fighting but besides that it appeared almost pristine. She grabbed it and grasped Lynn's small form by the chest before pulling her away further down the street.

The redhead stirred as Arturia dragged her away. "Didn't I tell you to run?" said Lynn moaning. Given Lynn's dazed tone, she wasn't sure if it was condemnation or just confusion at Arturia's presence. She lay the girl beside what she presumed was her car, given it was the only vehicle on the street.

The creature smashed apart the wooden gates, wooden tinder and shrapnel littering the asphalt, before stepped into the moonlit streets. This close against the pale moonlight, she could see its form in its entirety.

Darkness like liquid smoke rose from its body, evaporating into the night sky. Skin as black as soot and rippling with muscles dripped oily darkness to the floor. It's body was different from inside the house, transformed into a shape befitting a horrifically mutated gorrilla and, given its mercurial form, she doubted if it even had a real body. Within the shadow's body pulsed a crimson core that almost seemed to stare at her like the cyclops of legend.

Arturia looked down at the blade again. It wasn't Excalibur, but she had trained with swords her entire life. She had fought for her entire life. This was what she lived to do, not wash dishes or wait tables while being ogled by some pre-pubescent boys. This was what she did best.

"Let me protect you now," said Arturia, placing a gently pat on Lynn's shoulder, before dropping the car keys on her lap.

She brought the sword up, the blade's sheen now glowing pure white. The coarse asphalt was rough against her bare feet as she advanced. She swung the blade back and forth in a continuous figure eight motion, testing the blade's balance and weight. Adrenaline coursed through her veins and a thousand thoughts and calculations flashed through her mind in a second. Dozens of tactics, details, options, and plans to defeat her foe. In a way, she enjoyed this simplicity. It was her and her enemy; victory or death.

Her opponent charged forth with both its arms tensed tight behind it as its hammer-like arms readied to strike. With a jump, the shadow leapt forward and pounded downward turning asphalt into dust and forming a small crater on the street. The air rippled as the shockwave spread across the empty streets and shook the nearby trees.

Arturia was no longer there. She stood behind the beast, black ichor splattered across her face and covering her clothes. On her longsword the black blood sizzled and boiled before evaporating off the blade.

The creature had been so focused on pounding her to mush that it missed her when she'd slid underneath its attack. Thrusting upward, she'd let the shadow's momentum do most of the work for her and disemboweled the creature from chest to groin. On the road lay a trail of its thick muddy blood

It roared in pain, irate at its formerly easy prey, before collapsing to its knees from the wound. For a moment Arturia even believed the thing would die but then she watched as its wound slowly closed and the creature rose back on its feet.

She sighed. Things were never that easy.

It surveyed her, pacing back and forth on the road while its crimson core seemed to stare at her. She gripped her sword tightened and she watched for any signs of attack.

The sound of rending flesh filled the street as its body began to change once more, its shadowy flesh sprouting more tentacles along its form. Each new limb ended with some form of razor sharp weapon: one was thin and ended in the shape of a spearhead, others at the side formed into the shape of a claymore or scimitar. From its back loomed even heavier weapons such as an Executioner's axe or an oversized warhammer.

An armoury's worth of weapons…

It knelt down, bladed tentacles rearing up to strike, before launching forward towards her.

* * *

><p><em>They had her surrounded, trapped in the remains of this burning village. Her escape blocked by fire, her escorts cut down by surprise attack and her knights cut off by a veritable flood of enemy reinforcements. She was trapped, outnumbered over a dozen to one, and tired. <em>

_Her enemies wielded an armoury's worth of weapons... mauls, warhammers, daggers, swords, spears and axes. Their weapons reflected the burning flames of the village against the dark sky. She lifted Excalibur once more as they advanced towards her._

_In an instant, her mind calculated their vectors of attack. All weapons had strengths and weaknesses; some were slow yet powerful, others fast yet lacked reach. She rolled forward, slipping underneath the axeman's swing before she swung her blade and removed the man's head from his helmet. His nearby companion, wielding a spear, couldn't bring his weapon to bear at such short range buying her some time to recover._

_There was a tingle in the back of her mind, and Arturia swung Excalibur a full circle, cutting three men in half, before twisting her body to avoid a spear. Grasping the weapon's wooden shaft, she pulled her target towards her before running her sword clean through his chest, the soldier exhaling his last breath. She pushed Excalibur forward, impaling the man behind him and pulling the sword free with a sickening squelch._

_Instinct raised her sword upward as she turned, parry the downward sword slash and knocking her assailant off balance. Arturia swung once more, shattering the weaker blade and staining Excalibur's golden sheen crimson with another layer of blood. She rolled to her side as the mob of soldiers struck at her once more._

_Pain stung Arturia's abdomen and she winced as she came out of her roll. Touching her side, her hand pulling away to see fresh blood. She looked up against the enemy, their visage covered by shadows from the firelight in the background. Some of them smiled as they cautiously approached her, self-assured of their victory._

_One of the men, emboldened by success, charged forward sword at the ready. He lost his hand and, shortly after, his head for the trouble._

_"__Arrogant fool." Arturia thought. She was injured, not dead._

_The rest of the soldiers came towards her, an unorganized mob. Gritting her teeth and cursing under her breath, Arturia seized the initiative and struck first literally disarming the final spearman in the group. She sensed, more than saw, the next attack approaching and swifty sidestepped to the right and watched as as a swordsman impaled his friend. _

_The enemy was prepared this time, however, sacrificing two of their men to surround her against a building wall. She struck out and cut another soldier down before sprinting for the gap amongst the group, but this time she was too slow. As she ran from the mob Arturia felt something strike her exposed shoulder and then heard the sound of breaking bones. It took a moment before her mind registered the sharp pain as she fell. That was nothing, however, compared to near blinding pain when she fell to the ground and landed on her broken shoulder._

_Footsteps came from behind her and, as if subconsciously, she lashed out with Excalibur. There was the warm wet splatter of blood against her face, and she opened her eyes to see her sword embedded through another soldier's sternum, his warhammer falling by the wayside._

_Gritting her teeth past the excruciating pain, she stood shakily to her feet with Excalibur raised; battered yet resolute. It was in this standoff that Arturia noticed one detail the men did not: it was snowing._

_Arturia felt a tingle in the air and she let out a grin._

_Ice formed under one of the soldier's feet, and the man had enough time to look down in horror before a column of ice impaled him through his torso and lifted him into the air. More icicles, each the size of a man's arm, fell from the heavens and shredded through armour and flesh alike. _

_"__Archers, Fire!" screamed a voice. Flaming arrows followed the summoned hailstorm, devastating the remaining enemy ranks. The men broke and fled, their panicked screams receding in the distance as they ran. With the threat gone, she collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. _

_A figure approached her from behind, parting the layer of flaming debris with the snap of his fingers. He ran towards her with haste, his large cloak sweeping the ground behind him._

_"__Arturia, are you alright?" her old friend asked, his hood concealing his features._

_"__I shall survive, old friend," she replied, holding her wound with her working arm._

_Around her, Arturia's soldiers swarmed forward giving chase to the enemy. _

* * *

><p>The night sky looked ever beautiful as Arturia lay on the asphalt road. At the edges of her vision she saw McNab and Kiritsugu moving and firing at the wounded creature.<p>

"Get her to the car, damn it," ordered Nathaniel.

Craning her head upwards, she saw the severed limbs of the creatures splayed against the ground, black blood was splattered across the ground like some macabre form of art. The walls of the street were shattered and marred as if a small tornado had struck the area. She watched as Nathaniel followed the creature, the staccato of rapid gunfire muffling as he rounded the corner.

"Here, Arturia. This will help with the pain," said Kiritsugu, leaning over her. There was a slight pinch on her arm, and then gratefully the pain began to ebb as drowsiness began to overtake her.

"Kiritsugu, I..." Arturia tried to speak.

"It's alright. We can talk once you're safe," he said, patting her on the head. She relaxed her head against the ground just for a moment before falling asleep.


End file.
